Tig's Tales: The Story of Gryffindor's Little Lion
by Dreamcatcher-Believer
Summary: Faith is not the most ordinary of people, besides being a witch, she is neighbour to the Weasleys close friends with the twins and some would say slightly crazy. Welcome to her Hogwarts adventure. Romance will come later on ...I'm not good at summaries
1. The Adventure Begins

**A/N: Ok, so I finally got this story into a fairly sensible form, bear with me on this though as it may be slightly (or very) disjointed as I originally only planned to write it as a series of one shots, but I got…um…carried away. Also, not sure how regular updates will be as I am very easily distracted, but here goes.**

**Obviously (and unfortunately) I own nothing Harry Potter related, just my OC Faith. Some characters may be OOC (and in part this is the point, at least later on, go read my profile for better explanation :D) but I tried my best, and will admit I struggled in this to get the balance right with Neville's shyness vs. becoming friends with Faith.**

**Anyway…to the story! :D**

Chapter One: The Adventure Begins

She had been looking forward to this day for so long now, practically her whole life, especially since summer last year when her two 'older brothers' had come back from their first year, full of stories of poltergeists, pranks and secret passages and promises that she could join them in their mischief making when she too started at Hogwarts.

Faith smiled as she thought of the boys she called her older brothers, Fred and George Weasley, the crazy, boisterous tricksters she had known for practically her whole life. She remembered the day they had given themselves the honorary title of 'big brothers'.

It had been a lazy day in the summer before the twins went away to Hogwarts. The three of them were laid in one of the fields between the Burrow and the Warren (as they had dubbed the farmhouse in which Faith lived), basking in the sun, when Fred had burst out with

"You know what Faye, I've decided you're our little sister"

Faith just looked at him questioningly while George added "He has a point, we do see you virtually everyday, you might as well live at the Burrow"

"and you look like one of us" Fred pointed out

"Yeah, I look so much like a pair of ridiculously tall _male_ twins" Faith replied sarcastically

"I meant your hair and freckles and you know it, but yeah as of now we are your big brothers and completely prepared to do our duty in punishing anyone who tries to harm you, in any way at all"

"This punishment involves explosions and lots of sticky gloop right?" Faith had asked, grinning at the twins

"Well, of course" George answered

"that, and the physical violence" Fred added, trying and failing to adopt an innocent expression.

Faith smiled at the memory, like the twins really needed any encouragement to play with explosions and gloop, both were practically an everyday occurrence in their lives and Faiths too when they were around. Her smile widened when she realised that now she too was going to Hogwarts she'd be able to join in with the pranks there as well as the ones at home, gloop was most likely going to become a central part of her life and she couldn't wait!

Suddenly realising that she was once again day-dreaming about Hogwarts and all the new adventures and possibilities it held, instead of actually getting ready to go, Faith shot up off her bed, abruptly snapping back to reality. With dreams of castles and ghosts still on her mind she set about getting ready for what she was sure was going to be an interesting day.

* * *

The next thing Faith knew she was clattering out of the front door clutching her shrieking Barn Owl, Sage, in his cage in one hand, with her wand sticking out of her back pocket and a small messenger bag containing her camera, spare films and sketch book (which contained, amongst sketches and doodles, many plans for new pranks) slung around her body. Her little brother followed her out of the house, telling her the many reasons why _he _should be going to Hogwarts (as he had been doing for the past ten minutes none stop).

As they clambered into the car, which had already been packed with the rest of Faith's luggage and where their father was waiting in the driving seat, Faith's excitement grew. As soon as her mum was in the car too they would be off, she would be starting her journey to Hogwarts, starting her adventure!

* * *

By the time Faith and her family reached the barrier that lead to Platform 9¾ at a little after half ten, she was so excited about the coming trip that she charged through it as fast as she could, totally unaware of any muggles who might have been watching. Arriving on the platform the first thing she saw was the great, crimson steam engine giving out so much smoke that many of the people at the other end of the platform had become just shadowy figures.

Her family arrived at her side, having crossed the barrier in a somewhat calmer, more sensible manner, her parents smiling at their surroundings in a nostalgic way (both had been there many times before, her father on his way to school, her mother seeing off her brothers) and her little brother wide eyed and amazed by what he saw around him.

"Wow, wow, wow" he squeaked excitedly "I wanna go! Can I go mum? Please, please, please!"

"No sweetheart," their mother replied, "You'll have to wait until you're older, then you can"

"Aww, you're lucky Faith" he sighed, then stood looking sorry for himself.

Faith smiled at him as they started to move towards the train, she was going to miss the little bundle of energy, even if he was a pain in the neck most of the time.

"Now you behave yourself at Hogwarts Faith" her mother told her "I know you're going to be with the twins, but don't cause too much trouble. Have fun though honey" she added with a smile.

"And don't forget to write" added her father.

Faith nodded, impatient to be on the train and on her way to Hogwarts.

"Bye, love you!" she said in a distracted way, hugging both parents in turn and then her brother, whispering in his ear "I'll send you a desk or something so you can have your own Hogwarts" this caused him to giggle and her parents to look at them questioningly.

With that she clambered onto the train and dragged her trunk and Sage's cage into the nearest compartment which, she noticed already contained another unattended trunk. Leaving her luggage on the floor and the cage resting on a seat by the window she ran back to the window near where her family stood.

"I'm going to Hogwarts!" she shouted excitedly, trying to jump up and down while also leaning out of the window and very nearly hitting her head on the frame.

"We know darling" her mother said, smiling at her daughter's excitement "Just remember what we've told you"

"See you at Christmas!" shouted her brother.

Then the guards whistle was blowing and the train began slowly chugging forwards, now Faith's family were among the many shouting their 'Bye's' and 'I love you's'. Faith waved out of the window as did many other students up and down the train. Then, as the platform disappeared from view she made her way back to the compartment where she had stowed her luggage.

Entering the compartment she noticed a sandy haired boy, who looked about the same height as her sitting opposite Sage's cage, 'so this is the owner of the other trunk' she thought. She giggled slightly noticing the boy and the owl were apparently in some sort of glaring contest.

"Er, please stop trying to fry my owl with the power of your mind" she joked, catching the boy's attention.

"Oh, sorry, but I'm pretty sure it's evil and is trying to do exactly the same" replied the boy smiling at Faith to take the sting out of his words.

"He" Faith said returning the smile "this is Sage, Mr Temperamental Owl, but he's a softie really, aren't you boy?"

She stuck her fingers between the bars of the cage and the owl immediately nuzzled his head up to them.

"Oh, and I'm Faith, Faith Higgins" she turned, moving her hand out of the cage, much to the disappointment of the owl, and sticking it out for him to shake.

"Seamus Finnigan" replied the boy, shaking her hand "You a first year too?" he asked.

"Yup, and I can't wait to get there, my brothers have told me so much about it!"

"I know, same. I mean, not the bit about your brothers obviously, but I can't wait to get there, I've heard so many stories, hey d'ya know if we really get taught by ghosts?"

As they talked Faith got settled in, moving Sage and then her trunk (with Seamus' help) into the luggage rack, then settling into the seat which Sage had previously occupied.

About five minutes later, as Faith and Seamus arrived at the topic of Quidditch, someone also arrived at the compartment door.

"Hi, er, is it alright if I join you?" the tall, dark skinned boy asked, catching their attention.

"Yeah, 'course" Seamus said "I'm Seamus Finnigan"

"Faith Higgins" Faith said, smiling.

"Dean Thomas" came the reply.

Faith and Seamus helped Dean move his luggage into the overhead rack, then they all settled back down. Soon they were talking, laughing and joking as if they were old friends, telling each other about their families and backgrounds. Faith found herself thinking 'I'm glad I grew up with both the wizarding and muggle world' as she listened to Seamus trying to explain the rules of Quidditch to Dean for a good five minutes, before just giving up with Dean looking more confused than when he had started and Seamus declaring "Well you'll find out when we get to Hogwarts anyway".

Conversation then moved back towards topics all three of them could understand. Seamus told them the story of his mum breaking the news to his dad (a muggle) that she was a witch. Dean described an incident at his muggle primary school involving some classmates who had been bullying one of his friends and the sudden, unexplainable appearance of a lot of manure, "I guess that had something to do with me then" he added with a smile.

Faith then described some of the better tricks, pranks and experiments she had helped Fred and George carry out, finishing up with the story of how they had managed to send one of the gnomes from the Burrow's garden flying right over the roof, leaving all three of them in fits of laughter.

"You should have seen the look on their brother Percy's face at this terrified gnome flying past his window!" Faith spluttered out through her laughter "he looked like he didn't know whether to scream or come down and murder us!"

"Wait, I thought you said the twins were your brothers?" asked Dean when they had all calmed down "Wouldn't that make him your brother too?"

"We're not blood relatives or anything" Faith explained "but we grew up together, so they've decided I might as well be their sister."

"Well that makes sense, sorta" Dean said, still looking puzzled.

"Yeah, that's the best you'll get outta those two I'm afraid."

"I can't wait to meet them though!" exclaimed Seamus "They sound great, should make this year even more interesting!"

"Aye" said Faith "interesting is one word for it, not the one my parents or their mum would use, but you know" she shrugged "Anyway I'm gonna go see if I can find them, I promised I'd say hi before we got to the castle."

"Ok, don't worry, we'll watch the evil owl!" joked Seamus.

"Sage isn't evil, and he better be alive and in one piece when I get back!" Faith threatened, heading for the door "See you in a bit!"

"Bye" shouted the boys as she closed the compartment door.

* * *

Faith wandered down the corridor of the train, peering into the compartments at various groups of students, on the lookout for that distinctive hair (although, all things considered, looking for chaos would have probably been more effective). She spotted Ron sitting with a dark haired boy with glasses and waved as she went past.

Finally, at what felt to Faith like it should be the very back of the train (but wasn't) she found the twins sat with a dark skinned boy with dreadlocks. Fred was out of his seat, waving his arms about, obviously re-enacting something, though Faith had no idea what.

She slammed the compartment door open and bounced in shouting "I'm here!" which certainly got their attention.

"We noticed" said George.

"You're not very good at stealth are you?" added Fred.

"Course she isn't, you remember…"

"…The incident with mum's vase? Yup"

"Yeah that and all the others."

"Hello to you two too" Faith said sarcastically.

Throughout all of this the other boy in the compartment had just sat looking back and forth from Faith to the twins with a confused expression, but now he spoke up.

"I guess you three know each other then?"

"Oh yes, how rude of us" started Fred, in his best impression of a posh accent.

"We should introduce you" continued George.

"Lee, this is Faith Higgins, crazy person, neighbour"

"Assistant with pranks and honorary little sister" finished George, standing and swinging his arm around Faith's shoulders "Faye, this is Lee Jordan, spider man, Quidditch commentator"

"And our other partner in crime." added Fred.

"Spider man?" questioned Faith.

"Oh, have you not met his pet?" George grinned down at her.

"D'ya want to?" Lee asked "She's in there" he pointed to a box in the luggage rack above his head.

"No thanks, she can stay in there." Faith looked at the box with a worried expression.

"Aww, Faye I didn't realise you were as terrified of spiders as ickle Ronnie!" Fred mocked.

"I'm not," she glared at him "but nothing should have that many legs, it's not natural."

The boys laughed at this but left the spider where it was, much to Faith's relief and they all settled down into the seats.

"So, you enjoying Hogwarts so far sis?" Fred asked.

"We haven't got there yet" Faith reminded him.

"Ah yes, but the experience starts right here on the Hogwarts Express!" he said dramatically.

"Oh, so that's what all the arm waving was about is it? Part of the interesting experience of crazy wizards."

"Heh, I like her already" chuckled Lee.

"You would, and no, that was a description of my new prank idea, your suggestion that I'm mad offends me" Fred said, feigning hurt.

"Yeah, but she's not far wrong" pointed out George.

* * *

Faith stayed in the compartment with the twins and Lee for the next half hour or so discussing, among other things, plans for new pranks to try out that year. Shortly after Faith had made the twins promise once again to include her in their antics George said jokingly:

"I thought you'd be sick of us after all these years? Why d'ya wanna hang around your big brothers?"

"Yeah" added Fred "S'matter, is the little firstie scared of all these new people?"

"How could I possibly be sick of you two when you're always so nice to me?" Faith relied sarcastically "And no, of course I'm not scared of the new people, actually I've already met two really cool 'firsties'. Talking of which I should probably go check my owl's still in one piece."

"Cool, and they're threatening little Sagey?" asked Fred.

"Na, Sage was being his usual difficult self." she explained, making her way to the door. "See you guys at Hogwarts, hopefully I'll be sorted into Gryffindor." she added, looking genuinely concerned at the prospect of the sorting.

"You will be" George assured her "You're a Weasley remember!"

"Meaning we'll disown you if you're not" threatened Fred, but he smiled at her reassuringly.

"Bye!" shouted all three boys in unison as Faith left the compartment, earning them a questioning look and the parting comment "I thought you were twins not triplets?" as Faith closed the door, waved and then headed back towards her original seat.

* * *

So far back along the corridor Faith heard a commotion coming from one of the compartments, peering through the open door she saw a blond boy and two big, burly boys picking on a plump boy who stood just inside the door and seemed to be trying to back his way out of it.

"Where are you going?" questioned the blond boy "Stay, don't spoil our fun" his voice was cold and cruel.

Faith immediately felt sorry for the boy standing just in front of her, so, without another thought she stepped into the compartment behind him.

The boys did not immediately notice her, as she was slightly shorter than the boy in front of her, and therefore obscured from view. They certainly noticed her though when she loudly announced:

"There you are, I've been looking all down the train, c'mon my big brothers are waiting for us."

All eyes were now on Faith, three pairs glaring and one just confused. The blond boy was the first to speak.

"What do we have here? A little lady, come, sit. I'm Malfoy, Draco Malfoy and this is Crabbe and Goyle" he said in an imitation of warmth and good manners that was spoilt by the cruel smirk on his face.

"No thank you" Faith replied coolly "I don't make a habit of socialising with people who pick on my friends. C'mon they're waiting" she added to the still confused boy before her. Then she grabbed his arm and dragged him out of the compartment door and some way down the corridor.

Stopping and letting go of his arm she turned to the boy.

"Hi, you looked like you needed saving" she smiled "I'm Faith Higgins."

The boy briefly returned her smile, before blushing and looking down at his shoes.

"Yeah, I did, thanks" he mumbled, then glancing back up added "I'm Neville Longbottom."

"Nice to meet you Neville. So what were you doing in there with the 'lovely' Mr Malfoy and his cronies?"

"Not looking for an ambush that for sure" Neville smiled slightly "I was looking for my toad, he escaped just after we set off, he's always doing it. You haven't seen him have you?"

"No, but I'm sure he'll show up" she said kindly "Why don't you come sit with me and my friends and wait him out? He'll soon realise where he's better off."

"Thanks, but I think I'm gonna keep looking, there's too many cats and owls around to let him wander."

"Ok, well when you do find him the offer still stands" she grinned "And talking of owls, I really should go and check on mine, he doesn't really get on with my new friend, so one of them has probably attacked the other by now." She shrugged.

Neville nodded and smiled.

"Bye then" he said, then added to his shoes "I'll come sit with you when Trevor shows up."

Faith smiled at his shyness "See you in a bit then!" she said before heading off down the corridor.

* * *

When she arrived back at the compartment she found Seamus again trying to explain the rules of Quidditch.

"You still at that?" she asked "well at least it keeps your mind off animal cruelty" she added with a grin.

"Hi, we thought you'd got lost" said Dean.

"No" Faith said, settling back into her seat "Just got a bit carried away planning stuff, oh and I got to play hero on my way back" she added, then explained about her meeting with Neville and Malfoy.

* * *

The next few hours passed quickly and comfortably with Faith and her new friends getting to know each other better. Neville never did show up, making Faith wonder if he hadn't found his toad or if she had intimidated him, after all she wasn't exactly known for being a calm, peaceful, subtle person (something she blamed on spending too much time around the twins). She hoped she'd meet him again soon, if only to apologise for said intimidation, after all he had seemed like a nice person, if a bit shy.

In what seemed like no time at all the train was slowing as it made its approach to Hogsmeade Station (and Faith was still in a toilet cubicle fighting with her Hogwarts robes, having forgotten she needed to change until the last minute). As she left the cubicle and began to weave her way back to the compartment, dodging all the people who had begun to gather in the corridor Faith heard a voice ring through the train.

"We will be reaching Hogwarts in five minutes time. Please leave your luggage on the train, it will be taken to the school separately."

When she reached the compartment a minute or so later, greeted by a Dean and Seamus who were nearly bouncing with excitement, she stowed the clothes she had changed out of and her messenger bag (which had sat next to her all the way there) in her trunk. Then she lifted Sage's cage down from the luggage rack.

"Oh no, evil owl's not coming with us." Seamus pointed out "he's luggage."

Faith glared over her shoulder at him "I know, I'm saying goodbye, he's gonna be in the Owlery so I might not see him for a few days."

Faith heard Seamus mutter something that distinctly resembled "Thank goodness for that" but ignored it, turning her attention instead to the owl.

"Be good Sagey, Ok?" she told him, stroking him through the bars of the cage "No sulking and no biting! I'll come see you as soon as possible."

Just as she said that they felt the train grind to a halt. The boys jumped up from their seats and the three of them hurried to join the crowd in the corridor.

"Here we go" Dean said, grinning.

"Yup, the adventure begins!" replied Faith.


	2. A Lion Is Born

**A/N: Yay! I made Chapter Two take a sensible form! (Which I feel for me is an achievement in itself :P But anyways). Again I own nothing but Faith and any dialogue taken from the book is done so only to try and fit with the actually story.**

**Also this is still Faith's first day, but I promise I'm going to fast forward to the more interesting bits soon, I just felt this a necessary introduction to the character etc. even if it is a bit long winded.**

**Anyway, I'm shutting up now, enjoy! :D**

Chapter Two: A Lion Is Born

For the next few minutes they suffered much bumping and jostling as everyone pushed to get off the train. By the time she reached the platform Faith found she had lost sight of both Seamus and Dean, she did however spot another familiar face nearby in the crowd. Squeezing through between the few (seemingly very tall) people who stood between them she greeted him.

"Neville! Hey, did you find your toad?"

"Hi, um, yeah, just before we stopped" he replied.

"That was lucky, told you he'd see sense!" Faith grinned.

"Yeah" Neville smiled shyly and held out one hand, which tightly gripped the struggling toad "Meet Trevor."

"Hi Trevor!" Faith said, bending slightly to peer at the toad.

At that moment they heard a voice booming above the chattering of the students.

"Firs'-years! Firs'-years over here!"

"Guess we, um, better head that way" Neville said, nervously glancing in the direction the voice was coming from.

Faith nodded "C'mon" and with that she began weaving towards the tall, hairy man who was shouting for the first years. She'd nearly reached what she assumed was the group of first years when she heard a cry of "Trevor!" from behind her. Turning she saw Neville looking around wildly, the toad no longer held in his hand.

This toad's like Houdini! She thought.

"He escaped again!" Neville said glancing up at her, sounding sniffly now.

"C'mon, he'll turn up." Faith soothed "Leave him for now, there's no use searching for him in this crowd."

Neville nodded, still sniffly and they joined the other first years gathering around the huge man, who Faith now realised was probably the groundskeeper Fred and George had described to her, Hagrid they had said his name was.

Hagrid's voice was once again booming across the platform "C'mon, follow me – any more firs' years? Mind yer step, now! Firs' years follow me!"

With that they were off, heading in a different direction to the rest of the students, down towards a steep, narrow path that to Faith at least, seemed very foreboding, probably because it was pitch black on either side (she'd never been a fan of the dark, much to the twins' amusement). She was now separated from Neville by a couple of people, but she could still here him sniffing behind her.

Soon gasps could be heard coming from the students at the front of the group and, when she rounded the corner, Faith saw why. There, across a great expanse of black lake was Hogwarts Castle, sat proudly atop a mountain, dominating the landscape all around. They were led down to the waters edge, where a fleet of small boats sat, bobbing gently up and down as the water rippled in the gentle breeze.

"No more'n four to a boat" Faith heard Hagrid call.

Neville caught up to her as she stood admiring the view and wishing she had thought to take her camera out of her bag. Together they were looking around for a boat to board when Faith heard a voice calling her name and, turning, saw Dean and Seamus waving to her from a nearby boat. She ran over and boarded the boat, noticing that they already shared it with another boy and immediately feeling bad for abandoning Neville. Glancing back to where they had stood she saw Neville clambering aboard another boat in which sat Ron and the dark haired boy he had been sat with on the train, so she figured he'd be alright.

"There you are Faith" Dean said "We wondered where you'd got to."

"Yeah, disappearing seems to be a habit of yours" Seamus added.

"Sorry, I got a bit lost in all the people" Faith said "It's not easy fighting your way through when they're all twice your size!"

Next thing Faith knew she was nearly thrown overboard when there was a call of "Forward!" and the boat started moving while she was still standing. Sitting down quickly with a thud and hearing Seamus and Dean's sniggers but ignoring them she turned to the other boy.

"Hi, I'm Faith, What's your name?"

"Zacharias Smith" he grunted and turned away.

Faith raised her eyebrows and gave Dean and Seamus a questioning look, which was only greeted by shrugs.

"I can't believe we're nearly there!" she exclaimed, all but bouncing in her seat.

"Watch it!" Dean grinned "You're gonna be overboard before we get there!"

Faith rolled her eyes at this, playfully threatening "If I'm going in I'm taking you two with me!"

"Hey, what did I do?" Seamus objected.

"Other than threaten and possibly abuse my owl?"

"I did not abuse him!"

"Either way" she shrugged.

"Three soggy first years" Dean mused "well it would definitely be an interesting first impression." he paused "Not one I'm planning on making though, dunno about you two!"

The boats were now approaching the cliff atop which the castle sat.

"Where are we gonna go now?" Dean asked, puzzled "that's a sheer cliff face."

"It's alright, fidgety here can use all that energy to bounce us up to the top or something!" Seamus grinned, gesturing at Faith, who stuck her tongue out at him.

Just then a call of "Heads down!" floated back to them and, doing as they were instructed, they soon found the answer to Dean's question. The boats carried them through the entrance of a tunnel which had been hidden by a curtain of ivy, reaching right down to the water. They were carried a short way along this tunnel until what seemed to be an underground harbour came into sight. The boats slowed now and docked themselves alongside a number of small jetties which protruded from the shore.

Faith was the first out of their boat, jumping out with such speed and excitement that she had a hard time stopping herself running into the students already on the jetty. Her speed also caused the boat to rock violently, leaving the three boys who were still aboard in danger of falling out into the water.

"Hey, be careful!" Zacharias shouted angrily "_Some_ of us _don't_ want to go swimming today!"

With that he clambered out of the boat and stomped past a confused looking Faith who was waiting on the jetty for Dean and Seamus.

"Well, he was pleasant" she said sarcastically.

"Yep, you've got a life-long friend there alright" Seamus replied, joining her.

"Maybe I should tell Fred and George I've found my first victim…" Faith said thoughtfully.

"Well c'mon then slow coaches, we have to get there before you can do that!" Dean pointed out, walking past them and leading the way towards where the rest of the students were gathering on the bank.

"Slowcoaches?" Faith muttered as she and Seamus followed "He was last off the boat!"

* * *

Once all the students had disembarked Hagrid went down onto the jetties to check all of the boats. After a couple of minutes he shouted up in Neville's direction.

"Oy, you there! Is this your toad?"

Faith smiled as she watched Neville dash over to where Hagrid stood, with an excited shout of "Trevor!" and shushed Seamus, who was muttering something about "How long d'ya think before he's lost it again?"

As Neville made his way back to the group, Faith waved him over to where she stood between Seamus and Dean.

"Hey Neville, Trevor." she smiled at the toad "Sorry for rushing off back there, I didn't realise these two had made a new, _lovely_ friend." she added, the last part dripping with sarcasm.

"Hey, I'm sure you enjoyed Mr. Smith's company just as much as us!" Dean countered, with Seamus nodding his agreement.

"Um, s'alright" Neville replied to Faith's comment "You probably didn't want me sharing with you anyway, I'm surprised I didn't fall in or capsize the boat or something."

"Are you kidding? You'd have been perfect then!" Seamus pointed out, grinning "Faith made an attempt at both of those herself, I'm sure she could've used some help!"

Faith stuck her tongue out at him, then grinning, added for Neville's benefit "Aye, It'd have been good reassurance that I'm not the only one around here with no coordination."

Neville smiled back at her "Ok, well, um, can I stick with you three now then?" he looked almost nervous as he said this, as if fearing they would reject him.

"Course" Dean replied smiling kindly "I'm Dean."

"and I'm Seamus."

"and I'm the clumsy twit you have the misfortune to keep meeting!" Faith grinned "Stick with me and you…"

"Will end up involved in your brothers' pranks instead of on the receiving end?" Dean interrupted.

"Well, not what I was going to say, but yes. And you've only known me a few hours, how in Merlin's name did you know that?"

"Because I'm clever."

"Or 'cause you told us all about them on the train" Seamus pointed out.

"Or that" Dean admitted.

"Well, I, er, don't know about pranks" Neville began "but if, um, sticking with you makes me a less likely target then, well, I'm all for it!"

"That's the spirit Nev!" Faith exclaimed, grinning from ear to ear "You don't mind being called Nev do you?"

Neville shook his head, smiling.

* * *

Soon Hagrid had finished checking the boats and he returned to the head of the group.

"Right, this way, follow me."

The first years followed him through tunnels that, again felt quite sinister to Faith, she found herself glad she was surrounded by other people as, although she wouldn't like to admit it, she wasn't sure she would like to be here alone, or even in a small group (although she would probably do it anyway out of sheer stubbornness).

At the end of the tunnel a flight of steep stone steps led up to an enormous oak door, here they stopped, crowding around their huge guide like so many ants.

"Everyone here? You there, still got yer toad?"

As Neville, beside Faith, nodded Hagrid knocked on the door and then it slowly creaked open.

On the other side of the door lay Faith's first glimpse of Hogwarts castle. In front of them was the expansive entrance hall with doors leading off in all directions. Two particularly large sets of doors lay open, the noise of many chattering voices floating across from one and the cool night air floating in from the other. Also leading into the hall were a set of wide stone steps, which presumably led into the other levels of the castle. In the foreground of this picture stood a tall, black-haired witch with a strict looking face.

"The firs-years Professor McGonagall" said Hagrid.

Uh oh, thought Faith, McGonagall had come up a lot in the twins' Hogwarts stories, mostly in the same sentence as detention or punishment. Faith was not looking forward to any future meetings they might have.

McGonagall then led the first years into a small room just off the entrance hall and gave what sounded like a 'Welcome' speech. Faith though, excited because she was finally within the walls of Hogwarts caught precious little of it. She only really tuned in after a nudge from Dean, who had an amused look on his face, made her realise she was bouncing excitedly on her heels with her head in the clouds. After this she made a conscious (and very difficult) effort to stop it and concentrate on what they were being told.

"The Sorting Ceremony will take place in a few minutes in front of the rest of the school" McGonagall finished "I suggest you all smarten yourselves up as much as you can while you're waiting."

Faith saw the professor's eyes linger first on Neville, then on Ron, then feeling the on herself she realised that between her hurried changing and her excitement during the boat trip it was a wonder her robes weren't on backwards. As McGonagall left, telling them she would return when the rest of the school was ready, Faith frantically tried to straighten herself out.

The group waited in what for the most part was a nervous sort of quiet, with few people saying anything. Faith herself could feel her nerves building, although the sense of excitement still far outweighed this.

She glanced around at Seamus, Dean, and Neville. She saw her own mixed feelings of excitement and nervousness mirrored in Seamus and Dean's expressions, Neville on the other hand looked terrified.

"Don't worry Nev" she whispered to him "My brother, George, said the Sorting is nothing to worry about."

He smiled weakly, whispering back "Do you know what it is?"

"No, he wouldn't say, something about spoiling the mystery" she rolled her eyes "But if it was bad I'm sure he and Fred would have taken pleasure in torturing me about it."

"Alright" he didn't look convinced.

At that moment however they were distracted by the appearance of about twenty silvery figures who floated in through the back wall. Several people screamed, many gasped and Seamus, stood beside Faith on the opposite side to Neville, whispered "Cool!"

* * *

The ghosts had just noticed the first years and begun to speak to them when McGonagall returned, shooing them away and informing the students that the sorting was about to commence.

"Now, form a line and follow me" she instructed.

Faith fell into line behind Neville and Dean, with Seamus bringing up the rear of their little group. They followed in a long line behind McGonagall across the Entrance Hall, into the Great Hall and past the student tables, to halt in front of the staff table the centre of attention in this enormous amazing room.

McGonagall set down a small four legged stool in front of the first years and upon this placed a tatty, patched, pointed hat, all eyes in the room (besides those of the first years) were now on the hat. After a minute or so of silence the hat began to move, then to sing. Faith listened to enough of the hat's song to realise that all they had to do was put the hat on, then returned to gazing around the room as she had been doing previously.

It really was remarkable she thought, the walls and floor were undressed stone with few decorations, the room could have seemed plain if not for the hundreds of candles which floated above the five long tables (four student, one staff) and the starlight shining down from the enchanted ceiling, which combined to give the room a very otherworldly feel. The place reminded Faith a lot of the ruined castles she had visited as a child with her parents (and on some, rather more interesting trips, the twins) especially with the ceiling which seemed wide open to the heavens, although this hall was a lot more impressive and magical.

As the hat finished its song Faith heard Ron whispering "So we've just got to try on the hat! I'll kill Fred, he was going on about wrestling a troll" and she had to stifle a giggle, she loved how even after all these years Ron would still believe the crazy stories Fred and George told him.

With that the sorting began, McGonagall called the students forward to the stool one at a time, the first being 'Abbott, Hannah' who was sorted into Hufflepuff with much cheering from the Hufflepuff table. Several other students were sorted, each with a round of cheering and applause from their new houses table, before a girl called Lavender Brown became the first to be sorted into Gryffindor. Faith could see the twins cheering enthusiastically amongst the crowd at this point.

It wasn't long then before Seamus was called forward, Faith smiled at him and mouthed good luck as he went past, but she wasn't sure he saw. Seamus plonked himself down on the stool, where he sat for almost a whole minute before the hat announced 'GRYFFINDOR!' and Seamus trotted off smiling to sit a few places down from where the twins were.

Faith could feel her nerves building again, she knew it wasn't long now until her turn. She watched the next couple of people go up and then.

"Higgins, Faith"

She trotted forward nervously, sitting on the stool and pulling the hat on (which nearly covered her eyes). As she sat there, she heard a voice in her head, which she assumed belonged to the hat.

"Hmm, and adventurer are we? And the joker of the pack if your friends are anything to go by, ooh and virtually a Weasley to boot, well, I know exactly what to do with you, you defiantly belong in GRYFFINDOR!"

Faith heard herself squeal excitedly as she jumped up, dropping the hat back on the stool (only just hitting it) and bounding off towards the table which had erupted into cheers, as she passed the twins they each stuck up a hand and she high-fived them, grinning.

"See we told you" George started.

"You really are a little Weasley now!" Fred grinned.

"And now a little lion to boot!" George finished.

"Rawr?" Faith grinned, then bounced the couple of places down the table to sit next to Seamus.

Within the next few minutes they were joined by first Neville (although he had to go back to the front to return the sorting hat first as ha had ran off wearing it) and then Dean, as well as several other students, including the black haired boy who Faith had seen with Ron who, it turns out, was Harry Potter.

When the sorting finally ended with 'Zabini, Blaise' joining the ranks of the Slytherins and Professor McGonagall removing the hat and stool Faith was already looking at her plate expectantly. In all the excitement she had barely eaten anything since breakfast and her stomach was now complaining. Professor Dumbledore got to his feet and said a few words of welcome (including blubber and tweak) and then the feast began.

* * *

Over dessert the talk of the first year Gryffindors turned to their families. Seamus gave a shortened version of the story he had told Faith and Dean on the train.

"I'm half and half" he told them "Me dad's a Muggle, Mam didn't tell him she was a witch 'til after they were married. Bit of a nasty shock for him!"

He grinned and the others smiled and laughed. The other first years then took turns to describe their families, and Faith discovered that Lavender was also 'half and half' as Seamus put it as was Parvati Patil, a pretty, dark skinned girl who had also been sorted into Gryffindor.

At this point the group turned their attention to Neville, who explained how he had been brought up by his Gran and how his family had feared he was "all Muggle" and his Uncle Algie had been so pleased when they discovered he wasn't that he had bought him Trevor.

At this point, Faith interrupted, quite angrily.

"Hey, there's nothing wrong with being a Squib!"

"Um, I didn't mean that, sorry" Neville apologised, looking confused.

"Faye, are you starting fights already?" came Fred's teasing voice as he grinned along the table at her.

"No, don't be daft." Faith feigned innocence, then continued sincerely "I'm sorry Nev, just my Mum's a Squib and when people find out they're generally not very pleasant about it."

"They're bloody gits you mean!" Fred corrected.

"Yeah and your Mum's lovely." George added "She doesn't deserve that!"

"I know" Faith smiled sadly "Thanks guys" she sent a gratefully smile in the twins' direction.

"Our pleasure" George smiled back.

"It's what big brothers are for" Fred added.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to insult you or anything" Neville said, looking slightly sheepish, making Faith feel extremely guilty because she knew she was being irrational.

"No, I know" Faith smiled "It's fine, should be me apologising, I'm just a bit oversensitive I guess."

They smiled at each other and there was a brief lull in the conversation until Dean asked:

"What's a Squib?"

Seamus began to explain to him but was interrupted by Faith saying "Um, Seamus, Quidditch?"

She grinned and Seamus, understanding immediately what she meant glared at her and stuck out his tongue.

"Well go on then, you explain" he said.

* * *

That night as she lay in bed Faith smiled to herself. She was in a four poster bed, in Gryffindor Tower, in Hogwarts, the adventure really had begun and she had a feeling these next few days, and the rest of the time which would follow them, would bring with them a lot of excitement and adventure, probably involving many pranks and possibly an equal number of punishments. Still smiling she closed her eyes and her last thought before she drifted off to sleep was 'Bring on the detentions, they are so going to be worth it!"


	3. An Eventful First Week

**A/N: Ok, so I feel bad now, I've just succeeded in proving to myself how easily distracted I am, so much for updating this fairly regularly as I had planned. :-/ In my defence I have been really busy and then when I have had time I've had major problems making my words go on the paper (well, computer) in a sensible order, but anyways, I'll stop rambling, here's chapter 3.**

**As always I own nothing except the crazy person that is Faith :P Enjoy :D**

Chapter Three: An Eventful First Week

Faith woke early the next morning, far earlier than she would have done usually at home. Opening the long curtains on her four poster bed she peered around the tower room which she shared with the three other first year girls who had been sorted into Gryffindor the previous evening, noting that all three were still sound asleep. This did not deter her from getting up though and soon she was dressed and heading down to the common room with a book in her hand (before she did something clumsy and loud and ended up in trouble for waking the other girls).

Despite an overwhelming urge to run up into the boys dormitories and wake the twins immediately Faith instead decided to wait in the common room, as she realised that their roommates were unlikely to appreciate her bursting into the room (and besides that, the last time she had woken Fred up early in the morning he had threatened violence if she was ever to do so again). The idea of waking the first years she had befriended the day before had also occurred to her; however she figured if she planned on staying on friendly terms with them this probably would not be the best of plans. So, these thoughts in mind, Faith settled down on a couch in front of the common room fireplace with her book, to wait as patiently as she could manage for any of the boys to arrive.

When Neville, Dean, and Seamus emerged from the boys' staircase nearly an hour later Faith was on her feet and bounding across the common room at top speed before they had even reached the bottom step.

"At last!" she exclaimed "I thought you lot were never gonna get up!"

"It's not even half eight yet" yawned Seamus "And why have you got so much energy this early?"

Faith waved away his protests, dismissively saying "I've been up ages though."

"Yeah, that's 'cause you're weird" Seamus told her, sticking his tongue out.

"Hey! I'm not that weird!" Faith protested "There's loads of other people up already, well, some, a few."

At this point Dean joined the conversation before Seamus could respond, "Is it breakfast time?" he asked "I'm starving."

"Me too" Neville agreed "but, er, does anyone remember how to get to the Great Hall?"

"Down the stairs?" Faith supplied 'helpfully'.

"Um…we're in a huge castle, there's a lot of stairs" Neville pointed out.

"True" Faith started "Um…"

"We'll find it, c'mon, we'll be fine" Dean assured them.

"Famous last words" Faith said, grinning.

"Yeah, now he's done it!" Seamus added.

"Oh shush you two!" Dean scolded "C'mon, are we exploring this castle or not?"

The other three nodded and with that they set off on a hunt for the Great Hall and breakfast.

Over the next few days they did rather more exploring than they had planned on doing, getting themselves completely lost multiple times a day. On one such occasion they tried to ask a nearby portrait of a knight for directions, only to be greeted with various challenges to a duel, ten minutes later the knight was still following them through portraits, yelling insults and challenges, but no directions.

Faith soon discovered that it was a good idea to stick with either Fred and George or Dean (who had a great sense of direction and by the third day could find his way around fairly well) whenever she wanted to get somewhere fairly quickly. She also discovered that when she and Neville were left alone to find their way anywhere they spent more time lost than they did at other times, as it seemed they didn't have a sense of direction between them. By the end of the first week however the first years were beginning to get to grips with Hogwarts and even Faith could just about make it down for breakfast without getting lost, Neville it seemed might take a while longer.

* * *

Faith spent a lot of her time with Neville, Dean, and Seamus, soon becoming close friends with all three boys. She also spent a lot of time with Fred and George, as they had promised her, and through them became friends with Lee Jordan. This time with the twins prompted a lot of nagging from her other friends, especially Seamus, as they were all eager to meet her 'brothers'.

"So, when are you going to introduce us to your brothers?" Seamus asked Faith, for about the hundredth time as they followed Dean back to the common room after tea on the Wednesday of their first week in the castle.

Faith pulled a face "You've been asking me that about ten times a day since we got here!" she exclaimed "And besides, you've met them, I saw you with Ron earlier when they, er, attacked him."

"Aye, well I don't think witnessing one of them get Ron in a headlock and then listening to them wind him up for five minutes really counts" Seamus said.

"Yeah, what's the matter Faith, you afraid they won't approve of your new friends?" Dean teased.

"Yes, clearly" Faith said sarcastically "I'm afraid the two boys who spend most of their time in trouble from either their teachers, their mother or my mother will think three innocent first years are a bad influence on me."

"Oh, we're innocent now are we?" Seamus sniggered.

"In comparison, yes."

"Well maybe that's exactly why they wouldn't approve" Neville pointed out, joining in "We're gonna, um, turn you into another innocent first year?"

"Exactly!" exclaimed both other boys.

"Aww, c'mon Faith you know you wanna introduce us!" Seamus whined, as Neville and Dean nodded, all three appealing to her with their best puppy dog eyes.

"Alright! Alright! I give in! The minute we get to the common room I'll find them!" She told them, moving past Dean in an attempt to storm back to the Gryffindor tower and soon stopping when she realised she didn't know which way to go.

"Ok, that's all we wanted" Dean grinned as he caught up to her "C'mon then, it's this way."

Five minutes later the little group of first years had arrived in the common room, where Fred and George were sitting in the far corner with Lee, looking (as usual) rather suspicious.

Faith bounded across the busy room, the boys trailing rather more slowly behind her.

"Hiiiiii!" she sang as she flung her arms around Fred's neck from behind, peering over his shoulder "What'cha doing?"

"Plotting to take over the world" George deadpanned.

"With the aid of an army of house-elves armed with bows and arrows" Fred added.

"Ah, exactly what I thought" Faith nodded, her head still resting on Fred's shoulder "So, have you got five minutes to spare for your little sister?"

"Oh I dunno, we're pretty busy" George started.

"Weapons to order, attacks to coordinate, that sort of thing" Lee added.

"World domination plans don't come about overnight you know" Fred finished.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm sure" Faith grinned "Just I thought you'd like to meet my new friends, you know those ones you were gonna tell off for bullying Sage?"

"Hey, the owl started it!" Seamus piped up from behind her.

Faith rolled her eyes, "Uh huh, well, anyway, if you're too busy..." Faith lifted her head off Fred's shoulder and made to step back, just as the twins each caught her by a wrist.

"C'mon then, introduce us to your friends" George grinned.

"Weeeell if you really want me too."

"Just get on with it Faye" George smiled, shaking his head slightly.

"Or we may be forced to use our knowledge of you and our army of house-elves against you!" Fred added.

"You wouldn't dare!" Faith glared playfully at him.

"Ooh, so you dare us do you?" Fred smirked, his voice taking on a dangerous, taunting tone.

"Yeah, that's exactly what I said" Faith stated sarcastically.

"Faith, Get on with it!" a voice with an Irish lilt grumbled from behind her.

"Alright, alright! Geeze, what's with all the nagging today?"

With that she turned slightly, so she no longer had her back to the three first year boys.

"Fred, George, these are my friends, Seamus, Neville and Dean." She gestured to each boy as she said his name.

"Guys, meet my brothers, Fred and George, and their friend Lee" again she gestured as she said their names.

The boys all smiled and greeted each other, then: "So, house-elves? I'd have thought something like Leprechauns would be better?" Seamus grinned.

"Well you would say that" Dean pointed out.

"Hmm, Leprechauns…" Fred seemed to seriously consider the idea "Nah, far too obsessed with gold, and not half as funny as house-elves with bows and arrows" he grinned.

"C'mon, pull up a chair you lot" George said.

"Yeah, we could do with some sensible ideas around here" Lee grinned "Deadly house-elves, honestly."

"Hey! It could work!" Fred objected "And hang on, did you just say sensible? Faith?"

"Yeah, you're looking in the wrong place there mate" George chuckled.

Faith stuck her tongue out at him and then, while Fred and Lee started a seemingly serious debate about how effective a house-elf army would be, Faith and the first year boys pulled more chairs into the little group and settled down. The seven of them spent the rest of the evening talking and laughing (mainly discussing what would make the best army for world domination).

* * *

It didn't take Faith's little group of friends long to find out which subjects they liked and which they didn't, in many cases they had decided this by the end of their first lesson in each subject.

The subject which quickly became Faith's favourite was Charms, this class was always loud and somewhat chaotic as the students learned spells to manipulate inanimate objects, for the first few lessons to make them fly (or in Seamus' case blow up, much to Faith and Dean's amusement). Faith revelled in this chaos and also enjoyed learning spells which would, she hoped, come in useful at some point in pranks. The boys all had different favourite lessons to Faith, hardly surprising in Seamus' case considering he had managed to singe his eyebrows trying to make a feather fly. For Seamus and Dean it was Defence Against The Dark Arts (a class Faith also enjoyed, but not as much as Charms) and for Neville, Herbology.

One subject that by the end of their first lesson all four agreed they did not like was Potions. This decision was largely due to their teacher, Professor Snape, Head of Slytherin, with a disliking for anyone in Gryffindor.

"You know what Professor Snape reminds me of?" Neville said, as the four of them sat in front of the common room fire on the evening after their second potions lesson.

"What?" Faith asked curiously.

"A bat" Neville said, shuddering slightly "A huge, bad tempered bat."

The other three laughed slightly at this.

"Yeah, I can see it actually" Dean sniggered.

"Aye" Seamus nodded.

"Well, maybe he is" Faith said, looking thoughtful.

The boys exchanged quizzical glances, which Faith caught.

"Don't look like that! It's not that farfetched. I mean, you know those muggle vampire legends, well…"

"What, you reckon Snape is Dracula?" Dean asked.

"Maybe," She shrugged "Stranger things have happened."

"Yeah…" replied Seamus unsurely "Apparently a lot of them happen in your mind."

Faith stuck her tongue out at him.

Neville still looked confused "What, muggles think vampires are bats?"

"No, that they turn into them" Faith explained "Well that and various other strange things."

Neville nodded.

"Hey, d'ya reckon you can see Snape in mirrors?" Faith asked, with a grin rivalling that of the Cheshire Cat.

"Next you'll be telling us to bring garlic to potions!" Dean smirked.

"It's possible, we're taught by a ghost, so why not a vampire?"

"Um, the whole sucking the blood thing maybe" Seamus pointed out.

"Well I still say it's entirely possible" Faith protested.

So, from this moment on the little group of friends saw Potions class as entering the lair of a vampire. Although they all knew this was nothing more than fantasy it at least made the class seem a little more fun, although, admittedly not by much.

* * *

One other thing that Faith learned fairly quickly was that hanging around Fred and George for any longer than an hour was bound to end in detention or at the very least a loss of house points. By the end of her first week at Hogwarts Faith had already managed to lose points on at least four occasions (although as one of these was when Professor McGonagall overheard her referring to Snape as a vampire she couldn't blame the twins entirely) and earn herself her first detention. The fact that Faith had managed to land herself in detention so early amused her friends.

"You don't even know your way around the castle yet!" Dean had chuckled when she told them "How have you managed to end up in detention?"

"Hey, I know my way around, kinda, I can find the Great Hall anyway."

"Yeah? So why did we have to stop you walking the wrong way from Transfiguration earlier?" Dean asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I wasn't! I was, er, taking a shortcut?" Faith quickly invented.

"Whatever you say Faith" Dean grinned "So anyway, how _did _you get detention?"

"Well, I blame the twins entirely" she started "They decided they had to start the new year off with a bang, literally."

"Sounds interesting" Seamus grinned.

"Yeah, you'd think so" Faith started "Actually I dunno how you missed it, it made enough noise, and mess."

"We didn't" Dean explained "We saw you looking like a rainbow, only we weren't sure what had happened."

"Yeah" Neville nodded "We saw McGonagall march you off too."

"Aye" Faith grimaced "I think she might hate me already."

She then went on to explain to them exactly why she would now be spending part of her first weekend at Hogwarts in detention.

The twins had indeed decided it was necessary for them to start their year with a bang, the only problem being they hadn't planned this 'bang' quite as well as they could have done. They had planned a prank which, as George put it, was meant to "start the year with a bang and brighten this place up a bit". He meant this quite literally, through the use of dozens of packets of dye, which the twins planned on enchanting to explode loudly and with a lot of mess whenever anyone walked under them.

The problem was the prank never really got past the planning stage. The twins and Lee had enchanted the packs (the spell for doing so was beyond Faith) and the four of them, with the aid of Fred and George's strange map, located an empty corridor in which to set up the prank, this was when the problems arose.

The twins apparently hadn't thought through what would happen when making the dye packets sensitive to movement underneath them. As soon as the four of them had levitated all the packs into place and tried to move away to hide, the whole lot had gone off at once, in a deafening, colourful explosion, covering the four pranksters in multi-coloured dye and attracting the attention of everyone in the surrounding rooms and corridors, which unfortunately had included Professor McGonagall.

The four trouble makers had tried to escape, but as there were crowds of people hurrying towards them in all directions to see what the commotion was this was impossible. So, when Professor McGonagall arrived it was clear immediately who was responsible, what with the boys all being well known mischief makers and with the four of them looking like tie-dye people. All four we're then dragged off to McGonagall's office and given a lecture on the childishness of their act, the appropriate way to behave in a school and, in Fred, George and Lee's case setting a bad example and leading first years into causing trouble (which amused Faith no end).

"But Professor!" Fred objected at this point "We didn't lead Faith into this, she was bound to end up in trouble with or without our help!"

"That's as maybe Mr. Weasley" the professor told him sternly "But Miss Higgins is still new here and you should be setting an example for her, not encouraging her to make mischief."

With that they were each given detention and sent to get themselves cleaned up. As soon as they were out of earshot of the professor Faith had burst out laughing and started mocking the others for being a bad example.

"See, it's all your fault I've got my first detention before even being here a week!" she chuckled.

"Clearly," Fred replied sarcastically "So I imagined you begging to join in with us then?"

"Hey, I didn't beg" Faith objected "I asked. And anyway, you two have clearly been a bad example to me since I was born" she grinned, sticking her tongue out.

"Oh, I'm so hurt, how could you possibly say that" George feigned hurt.  
"We've been nothing but good brothers to you" Fred continued.

"Training you in the ways of the world"

"Making sure you didn't grow up to be like Percy"

"Teaching you our secrets"

"And I have to say Faye" Fred told her, draping his arm over her shoulders "We couldn't be more proud of you."

"Detention within your first week" George continued through mock tears of pride "You've learnt so well!"

Faith grinned and rolled her eyes.

* * *

Lying in bed late that Sunday night Faith reflected on her first week in Hogwarts Castle. It had been a good week all told, alright so she had been in trouble on multiple occasions already, but it had been worth it. She had made some great friends that week and had a lot of fun, Hogwarts had so far been even more amazing than she could ever have imagined.

Faith was pretty sure that her first week was a good example of what was to come, after all within the space of that week she had spent a lot of time exploring the castle (admittedly not always intentionally), helped the twins with a prank (albeit a failed one) and reached the conclusion that one of her professors was obviously a vampire. So, all in all she thought she had set a good precedent for the rest of her time in the castle and even helped her Head of House by identifying herself as an associate of the twins early on, thus saving McGonagall time later when hunting for the cause of trouble. She just hoped the rest of her time in the castle could live up to the excitement and fun this first week had brought.


	4. Faith the Troll and Seamus the Monkey

**A/N: And once again I feel bad and am a useless author and have the concentration span of a goldfish, etc etc. I wouldn't care I have plenty of idea of where I'm going with this story it's just the actually sitting down to write them I have a problem with, between Uni and other distractions… Anyway, you're not here for my excuses and all I have to say is I hope to actually update this story in future but as I keep saying this I will not promise anything as I'm annoying myself never mind you.**

**Also apologies for any nonsense/disjointedness in this chapter, please bear in mind that as I post this it is nearly 2am. Oh, and also I promise the next one will move on from Faiths first year (very swiftly if all goes as planned) I just seem to have problems balancing chapters in a sensible timing type way…**

**Anyways, as usual I don't own anything Harry Potter related, or Enid Blyton, or anything else I may have mentioned that's escaped my sleepy brain now, just Faith, so on with the story. Enjoy! :D**

Chapter Four: Faith the Troll and Seamus the Monkey

Time flew by at Hogwarts in a blur of mischief, homework and exploration. Faith's first week in the castle had, as she had expected, been a good indication of how the weeks and months to follow would pass for her. It wasn't long before all of the teachers and a large number of students recognised the name Faith Higgins as one which was closely associated with the Weasley twins and any mischief or madcap schemes which were happening in the school.

People were often surprised however when they realised that this name belonged to the girl who was also best friends with Neville Longbottom, they found it difficult to believe that the small, sparky, mischievous ball of energy who could be seen darting about the school with the red-headed trouble makers was the same girl who had befriended this shy, clumsy boy. To Faith however there was nothing unusual in this friendship, Neville was her best friend, just as Dean and Seamus were, all three were very different boys, just as she was different to each of them, but this did not stop the four of them enjoying each others company and quickly becoming close friends.

* * *

With time passing swiftly it wasn't long before Halloween came around. This was a day Faith had always enjoyed as she felt that it was the one day a year that she should be allowed to get away with pulling pranks (unfortunately neither the twins mother or her own seemed to agree, and neither she suspected would the Hogwarts staff). She had been particularly looking forward to her first Halloween in the castle, sure that it would be a day to remember, she was not disappointed.

The day started early for Faith, something which she could blame on Fred. In the common room the previous afternoon he had come up with an idea to set up a jar supposedly full of treats such as biscuits and sweets but which was actually rigged to send out a shower of something such as confetti or dye powder with a large bang whenever opened. Faith had suggested a slight alteration to this plan, saying they should set up two jars, one treat and one trick because, as she had said:

"It's far too obvious it's not gonna be a treat otherwise, I mean c'mon everyone in this tower knows we're around!"

Following this conversation, George and Lee had disappeared from the common room, George up the stairs to the boys' dorm and Lee out of the portrait hole. George soon returned with two large empty Bertie Bott's jars, Lee was gone for another half hour before returning with a bag full of biscuits and other goodies (half of which would never make it into the jar as it was instead used as 'fuel' while they worked). In a couple of hours they were all ready for the following day, having enchanted one jar to 'explode' when opened, filled the other with goodies and enchanted both to shuffle themselves around after one had been opened so that no one could be sure which was which. Faith had even enlisted Dean to help her create a 'Trick or Treat?' banner to stick on the wall behind where they set up the jars. The boy's had then hidden the prank in their dorm room ready for the following morning. So, Faith was up early ready to help set the trick up and then sit back and watch their victims.

When she reached the common room the twins and Lee were just emerging from the boys staircase carrying the jars and banner. Before long they had their trick set up and the four of them settled down on sofas near the fireplace to watch. Few people were up that early and so, by the time Neville, Dean and Seamus joined them about half an hour later only a couple of people had investigated the jars.

As the morning wore on more and more people started to emerge and Faith and the boys were soon in fits of laughter watching the astonished faces of those people who received a shower of confetti and powder paint. They spent a good hour or so sat laughing at their unfortunate victims but then decided it was time to go down for breakfast.

* * *

Halloween was an even more exciting day than Faith had expected it to be, the whole castle was decked out to suit the occasion, the castle ghosts out in force and what seemed like a large proportion of the student population getting into the spirit of 'Mischief night', for once Faith and her prankster friends were not in the minority. Peeves especially was in his element and students and teachers alike had to be careful when moving about the school for fear of whatever he was dropping at that particular moment.

The school's population were happily enjoying the Halloween feast when the most exciting thing to happen that day surprised them all, an event which would eclipse even the most elaborate of Halloween practical jokes. The news came from a panicked Professor Quirrell, who burst into the room in the middle of the meal announcing as loudly as his stuttering voice would allow:

"Troll! Troll in the dungeons!"

The hall erupted in panic, some students began scurrying for the exit, others sat looking lost and still others, including Faith started chattering excitedly. When Dumbledore had managed to restore order he instructed the prefects to lead their houses back to the dorms.

The Gryffindors followed Percy and the other prefects back to Gryffindor Tower in a blur of panic and excitement. The common room was packed by the time Faith and the three first year boys, straggling towards the back of the column of Gryffindors were herded through the portrait hole by a sixth year prefect. It seemed the whole house was milling about the room, all discussing the same thing, what was a troll doing in the castle and how did it get in?

Dean, the tallest of the group managed to spot Fred, George and Lee at the far side of the room, Lee was sat in an armchair and the twins had managed to claim a sofa each by lying full length on them and refusing to move. Dean gestured towards the older boys, telling Faith "Your brothers are over there with a sofa each."

"Well we'll have to sort that won't we" she replied and with that the four first years began the slow process of pushing their way through the crowded room.

When they finally reached where the three boys were sat the twins sat up and George moved to sit next to his brother, letting the three first year boys take over the now empty sofa, with Faith plonking herself on the arm.

"Thanks" said Dean

"No problem, we like to make sure our little sister is alright when there's a monster in the castle" answered Fred.

"Our little brother on the other hand" added George.

"I'm fine" said Faith absentmindedly "and yeah, where is Ron?"

"No idea" grinned Fred "He'll be fine, so anyway, troll."

"I wonder how it got in?" said Neville, echoing the thoughts of most people in the room.

"Levitated most likely" suggested Faith, who had now stood up again and was stomping about in the small space between the sofas in which the boys were sat.

"Now that I'd like to see" chuckled Seamus.

"Maybe they're actually not as thick as people claim…" mused Lee.

Faith was still stomping back and forth, now with her arms outstretched.

"Faye, what _are_ you doing?" asked George looking bemused.

"Being a troll" Faith stated, as if it were the most obvious thing in the world "Trying to see it from his view."

"Is it a he?" asked Dean.

"I dunno, I expect you'd be in trouble if you got close enough to find out" Lee pointed out.

"True, though I think you'd be in trouble anywhere within 100 metres of it."

"Nah, not if you were above it" Fred disagreed.

"What if it throws something?" asked Seamus grinning.

"Ok, so maybe a little…"

Faith was still doing her troll impression while the boys were having this conversation.

"Er, Faith" Fred started, turning his attention away from the other boys "far be it for me to point out the flaws in your impression, but I think trolls are a lot taller than that."

Faith glared at him for a minute then climbed onto the sofa between Dean and Seamus, very nearly standing on Seamus and using Dean's head to balance herself as she climbed over him and onto the arm of the chair, where she stood with her arms stretched in front of her.

"Happy?" she asked Fred once she was balanced.

"Yup, that'll do" he grinned, while Dean grumbled something about how he definitely wasn't happy.

"Isn't the arm thing zombies?" Dean asked, craning up to look at Faith.

Faith just grunted and commenced a mock attack on him.

Dean was fighting her off when they heard a voice calling out across the room.

"Faith Higgins, what is all this commotion?" Percy's stern, bespectacled face appeared behind Neville. Faith's only reaction was to grunt again, so the twins answered for her.

"She's not Faye Perce, she's a troll" began George.

"And an aggressive one at that, so you better watch out" finished Fred.

Percy glared at them "Whatever she is she better behave or she'll be in detention" When this showed no signs of having an effect on 'the troll' he added "and reported to her mother."

'The troll' groaned at this and Fred pointed out "he's got you there sis, don't wanna annoy Mrs H."

Faith flopped forward off the arm of the sofa onto the laps of a complaining Dean, Seamus and Neville. She was soon pushed and jiggled off onto the floor, where she stayed sat leaning against Neville and Seamus' legs, while the group continued discussing the troll in a slightly less lively and more conventional fashion.

* * *

Time continued to fly at Hogwarts and soon the grounds were blanketed in a thick white coating of snow which only served to increase the magic of the place in Faith's eyes. Nevertheless by the time the Christmas holidays rolled around she was becoming sick of being pushed and thrown in snowdrifts by her brothers and best friends, who all seemed to think it was amusing to make use of her small size, lack of balance, and the mass amounts of snow whenever they could.

When the time came to leave Hogwarts for the Christmas holidays Faith was torn. As much as she wanted to see her family and partake in the usual family Christmas traditions she was going to miss the castle and her friends. This year was also going to be the first where she did not meet with the twins on Christmas day out in the snowy fields between the Burrow and the Warren to exchange gifts (they were staying at Hogwarts over the holidays while Mr and Mrs Weasley visited Charlie) and she was going to miss them and their little tradition.

Faith spent the last evening before leaving for Christmas sat with the twins and the following morning they were there to see her off from the Common Room. They exchanged gifts (all swearing they would not open them before Christmas Day), Faith hugged each of them in turn and then twins leaned in to kiss her on opposite cheeks simultaneously (a habit they had started on her ninth birthday in an attempt to embarrass her). Having said her goodbyes to the twins she was soon off to catch the train back to London with Neville, Seamus, and Dean who were all heading home for the holidays.

After a rather less exciting train journey than their last one the four first years were soon preparing to part ways for a couple of weeks.

"I'm not sure I want to go home" Faith told the others.

"What do you mean?" Neville asked "Do you not want to see your family?"

"Yeah, 'course I do, it's just, I'm gonna miss you guys."

"Aww, the little monster's going soft on us!" Seamus smirked.

Faith stuck out her tongue "Yeah, yeah. I'm a girl I'm allowed the odd sentimental moment."

"She has a point though, life at home isn't gonna be half as interesting as it is at Hogwarts" Dean pointed out "There's no ghosts, magic, crazy red headed twins…"

"Exactly, especially the last bit, I'm used to having the twins around at Christmas, its not going to be nearly as fun with just my parents and little brother."

"At least you have them" Neville countered "I've just got Gran for company…"

"Ok, point made" Faith smiled at him "We'll make sure we write, keep Sagey busy."

Neville and Dean nodded, while Seamus piped up "If writing to you means I have to deal with that evil owl, count me out."

"We've been through this, Sage is not evil" Faith scowled at him.

"Then why has he been giving me the evil eye from the luggage rack this whole journey?"

"He has not"

"Has too"

"Well you probably did something to deserve it."

"Did not"

As they continued to bicker Dean rolled his eyes and said in an undertone to Neville "They could be at this a while."

Neville nodded, replying "It's ok, I think we're nearly there."

As it turned out he was right, within quarter of an hour (and with Faith and Seamus still bickering) the train began to slow as it made approached to King's Cross Station, as it made its final approach Dean threw a chocolate frog at Seamus, succeeding in hitting him on the head and earning both his and Faith's attention.

"Ow, what was that for?" Seamus asked, rubbing his head where it had hit him.

"We're nearly at the station" Dean replied, shrugging "Thought it would be the best way to get your attention."

"Couldn't have thought of something less violent?" Seamus grumbled.

"Where's the fun in that?" Dean grinned.

Just then the train pulled up at the station with a hiss of steam and the friends prepared to part ways. They lifted all their belongings down from the luggage rack, with Seamus giving Sage's cage a wide berth, and trundled their way off the train. They stopped briefly not far from the train saying goodbye and wishing each other a Merry Christmas and Faith hugged each boy in turn, before they all set off in their own directions towards their families. Almost before Faith knew what was happening she had a small bundle of energy attached to her waist, asking her question after question without waiting for a reply, she put her arms around her little brother and looking up, smiled at her parents, happy to be going home, despite all the things and people she was going to miss.

* * *

Christmas came and went, and as much as Faith enjoyed her time at home with her family she was glad when it came time to return to Hogwarts and her friends. When term began time once again flew for Faith and soon the snow around the castle was beginning to thaw, something which Faith was very happy about, being pushed into the snow was _definitely _getting old now.

One rainy Saturday afternoon in early February Faith was sat curled up in an armchair in the Gryffindor Common Room, staring blankly at a book she had long since given up reading. It had something to do with goblin wars which, other than imagining hoards of Enid Blyton-esque fairy folk beating each other with sticks held no interest for her. She was supposedly working on her History of Magic homework but really could not be bothered, she was restless, she wanted to be out and about doing something but it was horrible outside and besides that all her friends seemed to have something more interesting to do, Faith however was bored.

"How can I be bored in a magical, enchanted castle" she thought "well maybe 'cause no one will play with me."

She glared in the direction of her three best friends, all engrossed in their own activities.

"If the wind changes it'll stick like that" Dean quipped after a minute or so of glaring, glancing briefly up from the game of Wizards Chess he was playing with Seamus.

"Well I'm bored!" Faith whined "What use are you lot if you won't entertain me?"

"What d'ya want us to do, dance?" asked Seamus, looking up from the chessboard and raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, that'd do" Faith grinned.

"Tough" he went back to his game.

"Aww, c'mon Shamey" she whined.

"No" Seamus scowled at her "Not when you call me that."

"So there's a chance when she doesn't?" piped up Neville curiously, looking up from the Herbology book he had previously been immersed in.

"No, and don't you start!" exclaimed Seamus.

"Oh, c'mon Seamus, you'd make a good dancing monkey!" Faith grinned mischievously.

"Yeah, you could show us your Irish Jig" Dean added with a smirk.

"What is this, pick on Seamus day?" came the grumbled response.

"You did start it when you suggested dancing to Faith" Neville pointed out "You know what she's like."

"Yup, see, all your fault" Faith was grinning from ear to ear.

Seamus rolled his eyes "Can you not go annoy your brothers?" he asked Faith.

"They're in detention. Again."

"What for?" asked Dean.

"No idea, probably something stupid since I wasn't invited to help" Faith joked.

"Pah, it was not stupid, quite ingenious in fact" Fred's voice behind Faith made her jump.

"So much so that we feared your young mind could not take it" continued George's voice.

"You're out!" Faith exclaimed excitedly, flinging her book in the general direction of the table, bouncing up in her chair (nearly toppling it in the process) and kneeling up to lean over the back of it and grin at the twins.

"Yup, and we've got something to show you" George grinned back.

"Yes, we think you're ready now" Fred added.

"Oooh, does it have legs?" Faith asked.

"…no, well, things in it do" Fred replied, looking slightly confused at the question.

"If this is Lee's bloody spider again…" Faith began, shuddering.

"Nah, far cooler than that" George assured her "Although also slightly more likely to land us in trouble."

"So all the more reason to do it" Fred grinned.

"You coming?" George asked, although by the look on his face he was already well aware of what her answer would be.

"Of course I am!" Faith exclaimed, grinning and clambering rather ungracefully out of her chair.

"Gentlemen?" Fred asked, looking in the direction of the three first year boys, who all shook their heads.

"We'll leave the trouble making to Faith for today if that's alright" Dean said.

"Who said anything about trouble making?" Fred asked, pretending to be aghast.

"We may have only been here a few months, but we're not daft" Dean pointed out "It's you three, it's bound to happen."

"Not that we're complaining if you're gonna take Faith off our hands with the annoying mood she's in" Seamus smiled at Faith to take some of the sting out of the words; she just stuck her tongue out at him.

"Ok, c'mon then Faye" Fred was already heading for the portrait hole.

The twins led Faith through the castle, through corridor after corridor and down many flights of stairs. By the time they reached the top of the main staircase which led to the Entrance Hall Faith's curiosity as to where they were going was almost unbearable. For most of the walk through the castle she had been quiet (at least in comparison to normal) but now she began to nag the twins.

"C'mon, where are we going? Tell meeeee!"

"You'll find out soon enough" was the only reply she got.

Pouting, she continued to follow them as they led her further down into the basement of the castle, close to where she knew the Hufflepuff Common Room was. The twins stopped in front of a large painting of a bowl of fruit, turning back to grin at Faith, who was looking about her in a confused manner for something significant or interesting.

"You're gonna love this" George smiled at her.

"Feeding you has always been a good way to shut you up" Fred smirked.

"Um, Freddie, dear" Faith began, in an impression of Mrs Weasley "You realise that is a painting of food, not real food right?"

"Make fun all you want, but you _are_ going to love this" Fred guaranteed her.

With that, and with a grin still present on his face Fred turned back to the painting in front of them, reaching forward and tickling the giant pear which was painted towards the left hand edge of the painting. To Faith's surprise a doorknob appeared beneath his hand and when Fred pulled this the portrait swung open like a door. "I really shouldn't be surprised by that" Faith thought to herself "I am in a magic castle".

The twins gestured for Faith to enter first and she couldn't help but give them a suspicious look, she knew them too well.

"Don't worry" George said "We're on our best behaviour."

"That's not saying much" Faith remarked.

"Fair point, but this is a nice surprise" George smiled.

"We promise" the twins said together, each placing their hand on their heart.

Faith was still slightly suspicious, but made her way through the door nonetheless. What she saw before her made her stop and stare. The room they were in was enormous, as big as the Great Hall and laid out in much the same fashion, with the same five long tables. Around the edges of the room were heaped many pots, pans and other cooking utensils and at the far end was a huge open fireplace. Bustling all around the room were what seemed to be at least a hundred house-elves, all of whom were busy with some job or other.

"Welcome, to the Hogwarts' kitchens" Fred announced grandly, slinging one arm around Faith's shoulders as she stood looking wide eyed at the spectacle before her.

"When you close your mouth and stop staring we can get some grub" he grinned.

Faith visibly shook herself, bringing her back to her senses.

"Can we get anything we want?" she asked, beaming excitedly.

"Anything the house elves can make or find in the kitchens" George told her.

"Apple Pie and Ice Cream?"

"Yup and Yup" Fred smiled "and these lovely creatures are happy to serve anyone who comes down here, whatever time it is."

"As we may have tested" George added.

"Are we allowed to do that?" Faith asked excitedly.

"Well, no, not exactly" George admitted.

"But when has that ever stopped us before?" Fred asked.

As Faith and the twins moved forward into the room they were greeted by a number of little house-elves, all wearing matching tea-towels bearing the Hogwarts crest, who soon ran off to find the food which Faith and the boys asked for. Faith once again found herself wondering at the amazing castle in which she was to spend a good part of the next six years of her life. The twins had shown her many secret passages and strange features of the castle in her time there so far, and she had discovered others for herself, but the kitchens defiantly topped all of these in terms of interest and usefulness. It made her wonder how many other fascinating secrets the castle held for her to discover. She grinned at the prospect of exploring these secrets and determined that she would know as many as possible by the time she left Hogwarts.


	5. Photographic Memories

**A/N: Ok, I'm gonna spare you the usual spiel of how bad I feel 'cause I'm hopeless at updating, etc. and just use the two words student and dissertation. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it! How I wish my dissertation had been as easy to write as bits of this story have been.**

**Anyways, as I may have mentioned (I can't remember) this chapter kinda fast forwards, hopefully it works. As per, I don't own Harry Potter or Winnie-the-Pooh or anything other than Faith, and even she seems to have a mind of her own inside mine…worryingly… So, enjoy! :D**

Chapter Five: Photographic Memories

It was that time of year again, Faith was back in the castle she loved so much, full to bursting point from the welcome feast she had enjoyed just a few hours earlier and happy to be back among her friends. She should probably have been in bed, if only to please her roommates who were no doubt getting sick of her moving about the room by now, but she had to make the room her own again, she had to put her pictures back up. During the past three years at Hogwarts Faith had taken a lot of photos, most of which were stored away in albums which she left at home, but she always stuck her favourites up on the wall beside her bed. As she had to take these down every year over the summer, then put them back up after, her roommates had passed comment before about the futility of this act but, as usual, this did little to deter her.

Squatting at the foot of her bed, rooting around in her trunk for her box of pictures Faith heard a huffing from across the room and felt someone's eyes burning into the back of her head. She turned to find Lavender glaring rather sleepily at her from a spot near the head of her own bed, and Parvati also watching her as she prepared for bed, Hermione had already settled into her own bed leaving the others to have the inevitable conversation.

"Do you have to do that right now Tig?" Lavender grumbled sleepily.

"What? I'm just trying to find something" Faith played dumb.

"Yeah, your photos, you're going to mess around getting them out and sticking them all up before you even consider going to bed aren't you?"

"…maybe" Faith tried to look as innocent as possible (not something she was good at).

"Well do you really have to do it right now, or at all for that matter?"

"I'll forget otherwise, and yes I need to put them up, we've been through this before."

"This is the third year you've had this same conversation" Parvati yawned, climbing onto her bed and drawing the curtains "and it's the same result every time."

"Well if she chose a sensible time to do it" Lavender grumbled.

"Relax Lavender" Faith tried to soothe, looking at her watch "It's not that late, only just quarter to eleven, and it won't take me long, besides the more you disturb me the longer it'll take."

"Fine, get on with it then, but hurry up, I can't sleep with the light on and you moving around, tripping over things."

"Will do" Faith grinned "Night Lavender."

Lavender grumbled something which might have been goodnight and pulled the curtains shut around her bed. Faith grinned to herself, it was true they had had very similar scenes on their first nights back in the castle in both second and third year. She continued to rustle around in her trunk for another minute or so before finally pulling out the small wooden box in which she kept the photos which were to go up on the wall. Faith stood and walked across to the edge of her bed, where she sat with the box in her lap, fingering the latch, before opening it and starting to carefully lift out the contents.

The first thing she pulled out of the box was in fact not a photo but a picture which Dean had drawn and given her during their second year. The picture showed Faith with tiger ears and tail glaring at a small group of people, the centre of which was a tall, blonde, rather feminine looking wizard being fawned upon by the surrounding girls. The memory which this picture brought back made Faith smile to herself, not that she could forget that day as it had produced the nickname which almost everyone now addressed her by.

* * *

It was during their first week back in the second year when it had happened, shortly before their first Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson with the new professor, Gilderoy Lockhart (which only proved to confirm Faith's views). Faith was stood outside the classroom with the rest of the class, talking to Dean, Seamus, and Neville.

"Merlin, would you look at them all!" Faith exclaimed to the boys, gesturing towards where Lavender and Parvati stood with several Hufflepuff girls. From where they stood Faith and the boys caught snatches of their conversation.

"Ooh, he's soooo handsome…"

"…did you read about the Werewolf?"

"He's so amazing…"

"You not a fan of our esteemed Defence Professor then?" Dean grinned.

"Like every other girl around here you mean?" Faith asked.

"Yeah, shouldn't you be drooling over him like every other girl in the castle?" Seamus chipped in.

"Seriously? You imagine me going all girly and gooey over _that_?" Faith asked incredulously.

"Nah, maybe not" Seamus grinned "but I imagined some kinda impressed reaction to all the adventures that are in his books."

"Him? Adventures?" Faith asked "Can you really see him anywhere where there isn't hot running water, beauty products and a clean fancy suit every day?"

"What, you think he's faked it all?" Neville asked.

"No, I don't know, maybe, or exaggerated them, it's just I don't see it, I mean fighting vampires and werewolves and whatever is bound to be messy work and I can't see him doing it, I mean maybe he did, but you know…"

"Aye, you may have a point" Seamus agreed.

"Yeah, I can see him panicking if he had even one hair out of place" Neville added.

"Exactly!" Faith exclaimed, a bit too loud in her excitement "He is such a...a…woman!"

Unfortunately for Faith she hadn't realised how close the other girls were standing, close enough that when she raised her voice they had no problem overhearing her. The next thing she knew Lavender and Parvati, with a couple of Hufflepuff girls in tow had descended on her.

"Who were you just talking about?" Parvati asked, a slight edge in her voice.

"Um" Faith looked at her and then Lavender puzzled, then glanced round at the boys, who were all beginning to snigger "Why?"

"Just curious" Parvati's feigned innocence was all too obvious.

"…Ok, if you must know it was Lockhart."

"You think he's a woman?" Lavender joined the conversation.

"Have you looked at him?" Faith asked "He's just so, so…"

"…stylish" Lavender suggested, smiling a dazed sort of smile.

"…dreamy" Parvati's smile mirrored Lavender's.

"Not exactly what I was going for" Faith started cautiously "But kinda my point."

"Faith thinks someone's dreamy?" Seamus chuckled.

"That's a new one" Dean grinned "and certainly different from what she was saying before."

Faith shot them a glare "Shush you two, you know what I mean!"

"What _do_ you mean?" Parvati's face had suddenly hardened.

"I mean he's an over-styled, fame hungry ponce, and I can't see how he managed all those things he wrote about!"

"Oh, 'cause you could do better could you?" Parvati questioned indignantly.

"I'm not saying I could, but that still doesn't mean I understand how someone like him could, or would want to for that matter."

"Someone like him!" Lavender's voice was rising "You mean a mature, talented, good looking wizard!"

"…I thought we were talking about Lockhart?" Faith couldn't keep the grin off her face (especially as, out of the corner of her eye, she could see the three boys struggling not to burst out laughing).

"Oh you're very funny" Lavender stated sarcastically.

"It's fine, just leave her to it" one of the Hufflepuff girls piped up, attempting to pull Lavender away "she's clearly just jealous 'cause she'll never compare to him."

With that the girls turned to leave, but they had succeeded in winding Faith up.

"Jealous! Of that poncey, feminine twit?" she exclaimed, voice rising in indignation.

"Yeah well at least he's done something worthwhile" Lavender shot over her shoulder, and then turning slightly finished the thought "he's not just running riot in a school, making a mess and pouncing on people wherever he goes like…like… like some demented Tigger character!"

With that Lavender followed the rest of the girls past the waiting students to the opposite end of the corridor, putting as much space between themselves and Faith's little group as possible while still waiting to enter the classroom.

The minute they were out of immediate earshot all three boys burst out laughing, while Faith continued to grumble to herself.

"Stop grumbling" Seamus managed to stutter out amongst his laughter "You heard them, you're just jealous!"

"Yeah, you just wish it was you that had travelled with trolls!" Dean snorted.

"Or you were planning a career as a fame hungry author and are upset he got there first!" Neville added, before they all broke down in laughter again.

"Shut it you lot!" Faith growled "Or my first great achievement will be called 'battered boys'."

"Aww, play nicely Tigger" Dean whined, still chuckling softly "You know you love us really."

Faith glared at him and stuck out her tongue "Don't you start!"

"What? She has a point, you do have some of Tigger's qualities…"

Faith just continued to glare.

"I mean that in the nicest possible way obviously"

"Course you do" Faith's tone was dripping with sarcasm.

"Wait, Tigger's that muggle cartoon character right?" Seamus asked "Sure he's in one of the stories me dad used to read to me. Lots of energy, usually excited about something, has a habit of pouncing people?"

"Yep, sounds like the one" Dean confirmed "which is what I mean about Faith and Tigger qualities."

"I have no idea what you lot are talking about" Neville pointed out "but even I have to admit it does sound like Faye."

"Yup, we most definitely have Tigger among us!" Seamus grinned.

"I hate Lavender!" Faith groaned "she had to give you three ideas didn't she!"

The boys just grinned at her, while also attempting to look innocent.

"I'm not Tigger!" she insisted, as the rest of the class began to file into the classroom.

"Fine, we know" Seamus assured her, before adding with a grin "Tig"

Faith just rolled her eyes as a slight smile began to appear on her face and she followed the boys into what would turn out to be a very eventful lesson. There was no use fighting it, she was sure they'd forget about it in a week or so at most.

Nearly two years later and they still hadn't forgotten, in fact the name had slowly caught on, first with the twins, then other Gryffindors, until finally the only one of her friends who still called her Faith on a regular basis was strangely, Neville.

* * *

Faith continued to smile as she fastened the picture to the wall and lifted more out of her little box. The first photo she picked out showed a scene from the previous winter, the first year she and her three best friends (along with the rest of the year) had been allowed to visit Hogsmeade.

The photo had been taken on the way into Hogsmeade on the last of these trips before the Christmas holidays, as they made their way along a particularly snowy stretch of path. It showed Faith lying full length in a deep snow drift, chucking lumps of snow in the direction of Fred and George, who, having just thrown her there were stood laughing with Lee and Seamus, while Neville did his best to rescue Faith without getting hit by her frosty projectiles. The novelty of Faith being small enough to dump into snow drifts easily clearly had not warn off, even after two whole winters (and in the twins case a great deal more back at the Burrow) of doing so. At least by third year Faith had learned to make sure she was well insulated whenever she went outside with the boys during winter, meaning she was usually warm and dry even if she did spend more of her time flat on her back in the snow than on her feet (although in all fairness some of that was more to do with clumsiness than the boys).

Faith lifted a couple more photos out and stuck them up next to Dean's drawing, smiling when she pulled out one that had been taken towards the end of the previous year. It showed Neville and Dean sat at opposite ends of one of the Common Room sofa's beside the fire, both nodding off, with Faith curled up between them her head resting on Neville's lap, her feet on Dean's, already fast asleep. Seamus had taken the photo shortly before dozing off himself in the armchair next to them. It had been taken on the evening of the first really nice Saturday that summer.

Faith had been woken early by the sun streaming in the windows of the girls dormitory and she stopped just long enough to grab her slippers before charging up to the boys' dorm, still in her pyjamas, bursting in, and pouncing on the nearest bed, which happened to be Seamus'. This resulted in a lot of shouting and swearing from Seamus, who had rolled off onto the floor with a crash in his surprise. This woke the other four boys in the dorm who all peered out from between the curtains on their beds, looking around in confusion, before seeing Faith sat cross legged in the middle of Seamus' bed grinning proudly and Seamus glaring up at her from his spot on the floor. Faith was soon ousted from her spot on the bed, had most of the pillows in the room thrown at her and found herself stood in the corridor outside the dorm room as the door was slammed shut behind her. She thought better of going to wake the twins and Lee and having a repeat (and probably more violent) incident in the fifth year dorm, so traipsed back to her own room to get dressed.

She waited for the boys in the common room, watching other people come and go. It wasn't long before they joined her, mumbling various versions of "I hate you, I couldn't get back to sleep" and "why are we awake?" The boys soon perked up when she produced the goodies she had filched from the kitchens the previous night though.

The four of them had then spent the whole day (minus a short break for lunch) out in the castle grounds running around with the football Dean had brought with him (although he and Faith had long since given up trying to explain the proper rules to the other boys) and, after Faith had been thrown head first into the lake having sufficiently wound Dean up, swimming too. Consequently the four of them were shattered by the time evening came and had collapsed in the common room shortly after getting back from tea in the Great Hall.

About an hour after the picture was taken Fred and George arrived in the common room, spotted the slumbering students, crept up behind the sofa and shouted "Wakey, wakey, little Faithy!" This caused Neville and Dean to bolt awake, Seamus to almost tip his chair over and Faith to roll off the sofa into a heap on the floor, narrowly missing the nearby coffee table, at which point the cackling twins disappeared back across the busy Common Room.

"I really hate your brothers sometimes, Tig" Dean groaned.

"You're not the only one" mumbled the heap that was Faith.

* * *

Faith continued to put up her photos, finding amongst them first a picture from first year, taken by George of the four first years in the kitchens looking slightly green, a number of empty bowls and glasses on the table in front of them (starting a 'who can eat the most ice cream' competition had not been Seamus' brightest idea).

Next she pulled out a photo that was starting to look a little tatty around the edges, it showed five red headed children, dressed in a way which had at some point earlier in the day been smart. It had been taken at Percy's birthday party when Faith was about five years old. Faith, Ginny, Fred, George, and Ron sat on the grass in the garden of the Burrow, each with a paper plate of food. The boys were all wearing shirts which were rather crumpled and stained by this point. Ginny and Faith wore fancy party dresses (something which Faith had pouted a lot about, and been teased by the twins for), Ginny still looked fairly neat, but Faith had grass and mud stains around the hem of her dress and chocolate and other food down the front. All five children were grinning happily up at the camera with mouths full of food (and in the case of the youngest three, faces covered in it).

As Faith stuck up the last of the pictures from her box (three similar pictures of her, Dean, Seamus and Neville stood together grinning, one taken each of the past three years) it struck her how much they had all changed. Looking at those pictures it was clear she was rapidly becoming the midget of the group, she had always been slightly smaller than the boys but now there was a lot more difference in it. Neville and Dean had shot up over the past couple of years, Dean had always been the tallest and still was, but now both he and Neville were easily a head taller than Faith, Seamus was still much closer in height to her, but even there the gap was beginning to stretch.

She also noticed the changes that were appearing in the boys' faces, it was clear in the pictures that they were growing from boys into young men (and weird as it was for her, Faith had to admit they were maturing well). All three had changed between the three pictures and then again over summer, Neville most of all, although part of that may have been that she hadn't seen him all summer but had attended the Quidditch World Cup with Dean, Seamus, and Mrs. Finnigan. Neville was no longer the small, plump boy she had met on the Hogwarts Express, he had definitely grown and was beginning to mature into quite a good looking young man. Faith wasn't sure what to make of this or how she seemed to notice these changes more than those to the other two boys.

Shaking herself out of her contemplation Faith fished through the bag where she kept her camera for the last photo that was to go up on the wall. This was a new one, taken at the Quidditch World Cup of herself, Dean, and Seamus decked out in green, complete with face paint and bouncing (literally in Faith's case) with excitement. She fastened this up alongside the rest, stepped back to admire her work, smiled and then clambered into bed, shutting the light off and pulling the curtains closed around her.

"Finally" a sleepy voice drifted across the room to her.

"It's only just eleven, Lavender" she replied.

"Whatever you say" came the sleepy, sarcastic reply.

"Would you two just go to sleep already!" Hermione's exasperated voice chipped in.

"Sorry, 'mione" Faith mumbled "Night!"

The only response she got was a muffled noise from Lavender's direction, which may have been a 'Night', a final complaint or just a sleepy groan, and with that the fourth year girl's dormitory settled down for a peaceful first night back in Hogwarts castle.


	6. Trouble in Defence

**A/N: Yay! Chapter six, finally, all I'll say is I have the attention span of a goldfish. :P Anyways, I kinda struggled with this one, so I don't know how good it is, I find it a lot harder writing serious scenes than my usual 'Faith acting like a nutcase' ones, so, hopefully it's alright. :/ Oh, and in my mind the Hogwarts robes are the ones in the films, which explains Faiths cardi (makes sense when you read it, or should do…)**

**Anyways, as usual only Faith is mine, and I hope you enjoy. :D**

Chapter Six: Trouble in Defence

The next morning at breakfast the minds of many of the residents of Gryffindor tower were still firmly with Dumbledore's speech from the previous night. Along with introducing the new Defence Against the Dark Arts Professor, 'Mad-Eye' Moody, Dumbledore had announced that the school would be playing host to a great event throughout the year, the Triwizard Tournament. A competition which meant Hogwarts would be playing host to students from two other schools and a number of spectacular challenges throughout the year. The one draw back to this, as far as Faith and the boys could see, was that entry was to be restricted to those students who had come of age, something which for them was over two years off.

"I really wish we could enter" Dean commented wistfully.

"Aye, it would be amazing wouldn't it" Seamus agreed "but what are the chances of us getting in I mean we're a long way off 17, and Dumbledore's well aware of it."

They both glanced up to the table at the other end of the hall where Dumbledore was conversing with Professor McGonagall over breakfast.

"Well surely there's some way we could get around that, I mean we have magic at our disposal" debated Dean.

"So does Professor Dumbledore" pointed out Neville "and I think he's slightly more experienced."

The other two boys shot him frustrated looks.

"Do you have to bring logic into this?" Seamus asked.

"Someone had to" Neville informed him shrugging.

"You lot really ought to talk to Tweedle Dumb and Tweedle Dumber" Faith added through a mouthful of toast.

The boys shared confused glances.

"Who?" asked Seamus.

Faith swallowed her toast "Fred and George, they've got it into their heads that they're gonna enter."

"How are they gonna manage that, they're not of age yet are they?" Neville asked.

"Yeah, I swear we'd have noticed that party" Dean chuckled.

Faith shook her head "Nah, they're not, not 'til April, they're trying to come up with some sort of scheme, have been seen Dumbledore mentioned the tournament last night."

"And you're not helping them?" Dean asked, looking up from where he was pouring pumpkin juice for himself and receiving an 'Oy, watch it' from Seamus when the juice nearly ended up over his breakfast.

Faith giggled, enjoying seeing Dean as the one causing chaos for a change and explained "Apparently I'm a liability."

"You're a liability?" Neville asked in disbelief "This from the same twins who tried to give my toad wings last year?"

"Yup" she confirmed "I'm dangerous where potions are involved apparently, something about a habit of bunging random stuff in to see what happens."

"Well that's true enough" Dean pointed out "You have caused more minor explosions in potions than anyone else I know."

"Hey!" Faith exclaimed "That isn't true! My partner over here is at least equal with me" she gestured towards Seamus.

"Yeah, but the difference is I don't do it on purpose" Seamus pointed out.

"That's not something to boast about" Faith grinned, at which point Seamus just stuck his tongue out at her and went back to his breakfast.

"So the twins plan on making some kind of potion?" Dean asked Faith, in an attempt to prevent the bickering he could see coming.

"I assume so, or it's one of their ideas at least, but they wouldn't tell me" Faith said slightly bad temperedly.

Seamus, his mouth full of bacon was away in his own little world again "Eternal glory" he muttered, through the food "I really wish we could enter!"

"Don't talk with your mouth full" Faith scolded, grinning.

"You're one to talk" Seamus shot back, after swallowing his food.

Faith stuck out her tongue.

"You really think you could win?" Dean asked.

"Course, I am the amazing Finnigan!" Seamus stated proudly, puffing his chest out.

They all laughed at this, Faith snorting and nearly chocking on her latest mouthful of toast, until Dean pounded her on the back.

"What, even up against fully trained 17 year olds?" Neville asked.

"Sure, why not? Just 'cause they're older doesn't mean they're wiser."

"Yeah, just look at my beloved brothers" Faith grinned.

"Oy! Watch it Mrs!" came Fred's voice from behind her. Turning she saw he, George and Lee had paused on their way out of the Great Hall.

"Yeah, or we may have to reconsider our policy of exempting you as a victim of our pranks!" George threatened.

"Oh you're terrifying!" Faith replied sarcastically "It's not like you've taught me anything or I know how your minds work is it?"

"She may have a point" Lee acknowledged.

"But if she's not expecting it" Fred said.

"Yeah, if it's a sneak attack" George agreed.

"You've just told me you're gonna do it" Faith said, in the sort of voice she might use when talking to a very young, or particularly slow child "and you're hardly the greatest at sneak attacks."

"That's 'cause we've usually got you and your two left feet with us" Fred pointed out "Without you…" he waved his hands in her face in a way Faith suspected was supposed to be mystical but only resulted in him knocking Dean's arm causing the jug of juice he was holding again to spill and actually hit Seamus' food this time.

"Yeah, good luck with that" Faith grinned, while Seamus grunted and prodded at his now soggy, pumpkin flavoured breakfast.

* * *

"Well that was a fun first day back" Faith groaned, flopping onto a sofa next to Neville as the other two boys collapsed into armchairs. It was that evening and they had just returned to the common room after tea.

"I thought you liked being outside" came Seamus' voice from the depths of his armchair.

"Yeah, but not so much when there's pus, guts and evil little scorpion things involved" came Faith's feeble response.

"At least you didn't have to sit through double Divination" Neville pointed out, shooting her a look that was something akin to jealousy.

"Aye, if I have to listen to Trelawney predict one more gruesome death…" Seamus began.

"See there's a very good reason I do Arithmancy instead" Faith reminded them all.

"Because Trelawney got sick of you sitting giggling through every lesson?" Dean questioned in an innocent voice.

"No, well, maybe slightly" Faith grinned sheepishly "It's not my fault she's completely batty and I can't take her or a word she says seriously!"

"I don't think anyone can" Neville smiled.

"Yeah, apart from Lavender and Parvati" Faith agreed "I swear that's all they talk about half the time."

"True, well at least someone will be enjoying the mass of homework she gave us" Dean whined.

"Another reason I love Professor Vector" Faith grinned smugly "He didn't give us any!"

"Yeah alright, don't rub it in!" Seamus complained, chucking a nearby cushion at her and hitting her square in the face. Faith tried to throw it back at him but misjudged it and instead sent it sailing over the armchair and into a nearby fifth year boy. She quickly pretended to be engaged in conversation with Neville, while the boys tried not to burst out laughing and the boy she had hit looked around, spotted her and lobbed the cushion back.

"How did he know it was me?" she exclaimed to the chuckling boys as the cushion thumped into her once again.

"It's you" pointed out Dean.

"And the other two reasons are tall, red headed and heading our way" Seamus added.

The others turned to look in the direction he was gesturing and sure enough the twins and Lee were making their way across the room towards them.

"Hey kids!" exclaimed Fred grinning manically, as the three reached the younger students, and then he happily plonked himself down on top of Faith.

"Ow! Get off you big oaf!" came Faith's muffled objection.

"Ouch, I'm offended!" Fred put his hand on his heart dramatically (not that Faith was in any position to see this) "Just for that I don't think I'm going to move!"

"Move it! You're squashing me!" Faith complained, shoving Fred as hard as she could and succeeding in pushing him off so he was sat between her and Neville. While this had been going on, George and Lee had perched themselves on the arm of the sofa and of Dean's chair respectively. They and the younger boys now sat laughing at the scene before them as Fred and Faith had a small play fight.

"Sooo" began George "you lot had a good day?"

"Yeah, great" said Faith sarcastically, from where she was sat with her arms pinned to her lap by one of Fred's hands.

"If you ignore the pus, guts, burns and death predictions" added Dean.

"Ah, so you've had Trelawney then" replied Lee, grinning "Although I'm not sure where the guts and burns come into anything…"

"Hagrid's latest great idea" Dean informed him "Vicious little things he calls Blast-Ended Skrewts" he held out his hand where he had been burnt by one of the creatures.

"Lovely, well luckily for you we have some good news for you" Fred said, finally releasing Faith and instead placing his arm around her shoulders.

"You're gonna love Moody!" continued George excitedly.

"He's good?" Seamus asked.

"Amazing" Fred began "he's really seen it, you know!"

"Been out there and fought You-Know-Who" continued George.

"Really fought, not like Lockhart" clarified Fred.

"Yeah, and wasn't he fun" Faith rolled her eyes.

"Oh shush, _Tig_" Seamus told her, sticking his tongue out.

"We don't have Defence until Thursday" Dean said, sounding slightly dejected.

"Aye, Harry and Ron told us" replied Lee.

"But it's something for you to look forward to" Fred pointed out.

"Unless, as our dear Divination Professor has no doubt predicted you die by then" George grinned.

Faith rolled her eyes again, it was true. She had only taken Divination for two weeks the previous year before she had gone to Professor McGonagall pleading for her to let her change to Arithmancy, which she had been allowed to (on the conditions that she catch up with the work and not land herself in detention for at least a month, which she managed, just). But even in that time she had heard Trelawney predict multiple deaths and disasters for her students, none of which had actually happened.

The group continued to talk for a while, with the four younger students badgering the others for more information on Moody's lesson, which ended with a large crash when Fred used Faith to demonstrate a move he claimed Moody had shown them for disarming and controlling an opponent. This move resembled something a muggle wrestler might use and ended with Faith sprawled with the top half of her body hanging off the sofa, close to cracking her head on the table, her legs still on the sofa with Fred sat on them grinning at her, all of which suggested that he had made it up. Faith then wriggled free, smacked Fred around the head a few times with a cushion and was subdued by George hugging her from behind, pinning her arms to her sides, all while the other boys just sat and laughed.

At this point Fred announced "Well, we have important business to attend to elsewhere."

"Oh Yeah?" Faith asked, wriggling in George's grasp "Fake beards and wrinkle charms?"

George released her, but not before the cushion had been moved out of her reach, and replied "Slightly more advanced than that, but yes, that's the general idea."

"And I still can't help?" Faith pouted.

"No, 'cause you don't take it seriously and just laugh at us" George pointed out, giving her a stern look which soon faded into a smile.

"And?" Faith objected.

"Goodbye Tig" Fred smiled, moving away and adding "Gentlemen, it was a pleasure."

Faith rolled her eyes and waved as the twins and Lee departed, shouting after them "Bullies!"

They turned around halfway across the Common Room, grinning.

"We know!" George started.

"Great isn't it?" Fred finished.

And then they were gone, leaving the three boys and a slightly flattened and bruised Faith to continue their conversation.

* * *

It turned out that the first Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson of the year was anything but something to be looking forward to. It started well enough, Faith and the three boys were excited about the lesson, and apparently were not the only ones, the whole class (minus Hermione who came shooting along the corridor at the last minute) were early to the lesson, and milled about in the corridor excitedly, waiting to be let into the classroom. When they entered Faith and the boys found seats in the centre of the classroom, with Faith sitting next to Seamus and Neville and Dean sitting just behind them.

Moody took the register and before long the class was underway. The topic was the Unforgivable Curses, something which Faith had heard of but knew little about. Moody (much to Faith's discomfort and, she saw, Ron's terror) used spiders to demonstrate these curses. Moody began with the Imperius Curse, under which he was able to force the spider to dance and back flip, much to the class' amusement, until he pointed out the effect the curse could have upon people, the things they could be forced to do when under it's influence.

It was when the next demonstration began that events took a turn for the worse however. As much to Faith's surprise as anyone else's it was Neville who supplied Moody with the name of the next curse, the Cruciatus curse. It was an awful thing to watch, and even though it was a spider being subjected to the curse it was easy to tell it was suffering excruciating pain and if it could, would be screaming. Therefore when Hermione shrieked "Stop it!" it came as no surprise to Faith, at least until Dean kicked her chair to get her attention, gesturing towards Neville. Neville looked horrified, his hands were clenched into tight fists, the colour had drained from his face and he looked shaken and lost. Seamus, Dean, and Faith shared a concerned look and Faith reached out to place her hand over Neville's, he looked up at her when she did so but nowhere in that look was the Neville she knew, it was too distant, too horrified, just not him. Faith didn't know what to say to him and just at that moment she heard Moody's gruff voice

"Miss Higgins, Mr Finnigan, if you would be so kind as to concentrate."

They turned around quickly, but Faith was unable to concentrate throughout the rest of the lesson. She copied down the information Moody wrote up on the board, but was unaware of what any of it said. Her mind was elsewhere, with her best friend and the horrified face she had seen the curse produce from him. She was worried.

When the lesson finally ended Neville had his stuff packed up and was out of the classroom before any of the others could do anything, still seemingly in some sort of horrified trance. Faith grabbed her books, parchment, and other things and stuffed them in her bag as quickly as she could, as did the boys, but still much of the rest of the class were making their way towards to door by they were ready to leave. Faith shot Seamus a worried look and the two hurried out of the room in search of their friend, with Dean hot on their heels.

Faith was worried still, frantic even, she had never seen Neville like this, sure he rarely showed the same lovable, intelligent, even brave person she had come to know as her best friend publicly but neither did this terrified, lost, distant boy appear. She hurried through the corridor leading away from the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom (at least she hurried in as much as one can through a corridor full of chatting, milling students) with Seamus and Dean close behind her, all wearing matching expressions of concern.

The three friends pushed their way through a group of students, including Lavender and Parvati, who were moving very slowly down the corridor, chattering excitedly and then finally spotted Neville. He was stood a short distance away talking to Harry, Ron and Hermione, or at least they were talking to him, Neville was still looking pale, shaky, and more than a little out of it and seemed quite unresponsive. The moment she saw him Faith made to dash to his side, however she was suddenly thrown off balance by a bulky figure who elbowed his way past the students in the corridor. When she had righted herself, with some help from Dean, she saw Professor Moody limping down the corridor towards Neville. He spoke briefly with the group and then he was leading the boy back up the corridor past them, one of his hands resting on Neville's shoulder, propelling him first closer to them and then away up the corridor towards Moody's office.

Faith reached out as they passed, grabbing Neville's hand and squeezing it, which briefly gained her his attention and, when her sad worried eyes met his, it only served to increase her concern. The expression she saw there was so far from the Neville she knew. She held onto his hand as Moody led him past her and the boys, but had to release it as he moved out of her reach. Even Faith wasn't brave enough (or daft enough) to contradict Moody after that lesson and the story she had heard from Ron of Moody turning Malfoy into a ferret as punishment.

The three friends watched as Neville was led around the corner out of their sight, then turned to one another, with varying degrees of concern in their expressions.

"I've never seen Neville like that" said Dean, his voice low.

Seamus shook his head slowly, agreeing with Dean "He looked, I don't know, haunted, I hope he'll be alright" he glanced down the corridor in the direction Moody and Neville had gone.

"Nev" Faith murmured, in a voice barely above a whisper, her own expression full of anxiety and seemingly close to tears.

The boys turned to her and seeing her face both put an arm around her.

"He'll be alright" Dean soothed, squeezing her shoulders "Moody'll talk to him."

"It should be us, he needs his friends" Faith's voice was soft, but there was still a frantic note to it.

"And the minute Moody lets him out we'll be there, but we can't do anything right now" Dean told her.

"Except maybe get a head start on what the problem is" Seamus observed quietly.

Faith nodded slightly, resigning herself to wait until Neville was released from Moody's office.

"D'you have any ideas Tig? He talks to you most" Seamus asked her.

"No" her expression was still sad and worried, her voice soft "But it must be bad, really bad, I mean did you see him… he wasn't… well he wasn't Neville."

The boys nodded their agreement and the three began making their way slowly down to the Great Hall for tea, Faith more being propelled by the boys' arms than under her own steam, as she was quite ready to wait in the corridor for Neville to reappear.

* * *

It wasn't long before Faith, Dean, and Seamus were sat by the fire in the Gryffindor common room in a worried silence. Neither Faith or Dean had eaten much and although Seamus' appetite was, as usually, completely unaffected by everything around him the three had very soon given up on tea and returned to Gryffindor tower in the hopes of finding Neville there, but so far had had no such luck.

They had been sat in the common room for around fifteen minutes, saying very little and jumping every time the portrait hole opened and someone else entered when Neville returned, a book clutched tightly to his chest. Dean waved to him, hoping to get his attention but he seemed completely oblivious and walked straight through the common room and up the stairs to the boys' dormitory.

Dean turned back to the other two "He's still not in there is he?"

They shook their heads.

"We need to go talk to him, check he's alright" Faith said.

"You should go" Seamus told her "you're closest to him, and he's more likely to talk to you without us there."

Dean nodded his agreement "Yeah, that's true."

"Ok" Faith got up slowly and made her way across the common room to the boys' staircase.

She made her way up the stairs to the fourth year dorm and upon reaching the door knocked and waited before opening the door and sticking her head in (rather than just charging in at top speed as she would normally). Neville was sat at the head of his bed, his knees tucked up to his chest and the book he had been clutching next to him on the bed, on the opposite side to the door. His expression was not as horrified and lost as it had been earlier but he was still not the Neville she knew.

"Nev, are you alright?" she called softly, moving into the room and closing the door behind her.

"Yeah, yeah, just Moody gave me this book, and I thought I'd read it, and you know. He's great isn't he, Moody…" Neville's gaze was on his knees and the book, anywhere but on Faith.

"Nev, you're rambling" Faith pointed out, a slight, sad smile on her face as she sat down next to him on the bed "Look, you don't have to tell me, but I'm worried about you, you've not been, well you, since Defence. You know you can tell me anything right?"

She reached forward, grabbed his hand and squeezed it. He looked up at her for the first time since she entered the room and much to her surprise there were tears in his eyes which began sliding down his face as he looked at her.

"Oh, Neville" she sighed sadly, moving closer to him and placing her arms around him. Neville leant against her shoulder, with one hand grasped tightly to the back of her cardigan (she had left her robe down in the common room), the other clenched in his lap, as the tears burst forth. Faith hugged him closer to her rocking and soothing him as he cried. It was a few minutes before Neville was able to form coherent words and even then they made little sense.

"I just…it's…today…It's just, it's awful…it's how they must…the pain…didn't deserve"

"Shh, shh, it's alright" Faith soothed, wishing she could do something more.

"They, they didn't deserve that" the tears had slowed now and Neville had pulled away from her slightly and lifted his head to look her in the eye. As their eyes met Faith realised she herself was close to tears seeing her best friend like this.

"Who Nev?" she questioned quietly.

Neville sighed and looked down, another tear rolling down his face "My parents" he said softly.

"Your parents?" Faith asked, confused slightly.

Neville nodded slowly, biting his lip to hold the tears at bay "I've…I've never told you why I live with Gran have I?" He looked down at his knees again before continuing in little more than a whisper "I've never told anyone."

Faith reached for his hands again and held them with her own, shifting around on the bed until she sat facing him "You don't have to if you don't want…"

"No" Neville interrupted her, looking back up and meeting her eyes once again "I want to, I _need_ to tell you."

Faith nodded slightly "Ok."

Neville looked down once more, sighed and seemed to collect himself, before looking back up and beginning his explanation in a soft voice.

"My parents were Aurors, they fought against You-Know-Who, you know, the first time, back when we were tiny."

Faith nodded and squeezed his hands, signalling him to continue.

"They did a lot in the war, Gran's told me they were heroes, and they survived it, at least…at least until after he fell."

"Oh Nev" concern was written all over her face "What happened?"

"They…they were" Neville's grip on her hands tightened as he looked down at them and gulped back the new onslaught of tears "they were tortured" he explained softly, his eyes meeting her own, now horrified and tear filled. "by his followers, they wanted, I don't know, revenge I guess, they used the Cru…the, the curse he showed us in Defence."

"Oh Neville" Faith murmured her voice full of horror and thick with the tears she would not let fall "I'm so sorry, I mean that's awful, what, what…"

"What happened to them?"

Faith nodded slightly.

"It…broke them" Neville began "They're in St Mungo's, ever since I can remember. They're just…their brains…" He shook his head sadly.

"Oh my, Nev, no wonder" she sighed sadly and leaned forward, pulling him into a hug. He clung tightly to her, his head burrowed into the crook of her neck.

After a minute or so they pulled back and Faith once again took hold of his hands "That must have been awful earlier."

Neville nodded, his eyes shut "It made me realise how much they must have suffered, I mean I always knew they must have, but…"

"Never saw it first hand" Faith finished quietly.

He nodded again "I'll be alright" he assured her "I just wasn't expecting that today."

Faith smiled at him slightly "You know I'm always here right?" she said, squeezing his hands.

A small smile appeared on Neville's red, tear stained face "I know, thank you Faye, I'm…I'm glad someone finally knows, it feels good to have someone to talk to."

Faith smiled at Neville and sat back next to him with her arm around his shoulders. Neville settled himself in close to her, his head on her shoulder and Faith's own head fell to lean on top of his. They sat together like that for quite a while, at first talking softly still and then in comfortable silence, as Neville regained his composure somewhat.

After a while Neville lifted his head and spoke up again. "You should go back down" he told her softly "They're gonna wonder where you got to."

"They know exactly where I've got to" Faith replied "Besides making sure you're alright is much more important than what Dumb and Dumber down there think."

"I thought that was the twins?" a small smile was starting to show on Neville's face again.

Faith shrugged, smiling too "It could apply to any of them."

"Go on" Neville insisted "I'm sure they're waiting 'patiently' for you to go tell them I'm alright."

"And are you?" she asked, searching his face.

"I will be, I just need some time."

Faith nodded slowly "You're sure?"

"Go!" he exclaimed "I'll be alright, I'm gonna look at this book Moody gave me, then get an early night."

"What book did he give you?" Faith asked curiously, leaning over Neville's knees to peer at it.

"It's a Herbology one, apparently Professor Spout's told him I'm good at it" there was a small proud smile on his face "Now stop stalling, I'll be fine. Thank you."

He leant towards her and kissed her quickly on the cheek, before pulling away just as swiftly, blushing bright red from ear to ear. Faith felt her heart leap at this action, but fought the feeling back, reminding herself that this was Neville, this was her best friend! She glanced over at him and seeing the colour of his face and his bashful look as he stared intently at the book he now held in his lap, smiled, he may still be red around the eyes and not quite himself, but the Neville she knew, her Neville, was definitely starting to reappear.

She got up off the bed "Bye Nev, you know where I'll be."

He nodded, still concentrating on the book, before glancing up briefly, smiling slightly "I know, I'll see you in the morning."

Faith made her way across the room, but turned back when she reached the door, her hand resting on the doorknob.

"Wait, what d'ya want me to tell the boys?"

Neville looked up at her "Can you, um, not tell them about, you know, my parents, I'll tell them, I'm just not ready yet."

Faith nodded, smiling comfortingly at him "Of course, I'll just let them know you're alright, or will be."

"Thanks Faye."

"Stop thanking me Nev!" she scolded, smiling "You're my best friend, you don't have to thank me for any of this."

Neville just smiled and nodded.

"See you later Nev"

"Bye Faye"

With that Faith left the room, closing the door softly behind her and made her way back down the stairs to the common room, where Dean and Seamus still sat exactly where she had left them, chatting quietly with a number of papers and books spread out on the table in front of them. Seamus spotted her first as she made her way across the room and, when she got close enough asked:

"He's alright?"

"He will be" Faith sighed, plonking herself down on the sofa next to Dean and leaning against him. Dean lifted his arm around her and gave her shoulders a squeeze.

"Do you know what was wrong?" he asked.

Faith nodded.

"You're not gonna tell us are you?" Seamus observed.

Faith shook her head "I promised I wouldn't, he's not ready yet."

"Ok, we understand" Dean assured her, then changed the subject trying to brighten the mood "So, you any good at Divination?"

"You know I'm not!" Faith pointed out "I only survived two weeks, remember?"

"But you do have a good imagination" Dean said.

"Yeah, c'mon help us create some Trelawney pleasing predictions Tig! There's no chance of us getting this stupid thing done properly" Seamus pleaded.

Faith smiled "Ok then, if I must."

With that Dean gave her shoulders another squeeze then released her and moved forward in his seat so that he could lean over his work. Faith tucked her legs up, so that she sat cross-legged on the sofa. The three of them soon distracted themselves and cheered themselves up inventing increasingly ridiculous and obscure predictions of what would happen to the two boys over the next month.

This continued until around half ten when Faith left the boys to it and made her way to bed, hoping that when she saw him in the morning Neville would have recovered something of himself.


	7. The Hedgehog Liberation Movement

**A/N: Yay! She's actually posted an update again! Things are improving, maybe, depending on whether you see being able to read more of what spews out of my brain as an improvement… Er, anyways, in my defence it's taken me a lot less time to post this than it did the last chapter (although I'm not sure how that's helping).**

…**I'm waffling again. I only own the very strange girl named Faith, yadda yadda. Enjoy the nonsense produced by my brain! :D**

Chapter Seven: The Hedgehog Liberation Movement

The following morning over breakfast Faith couldn't help but watch Neville more closely than usual. He seemed to be more or less himself again and, although he was quieter than usual, he was joining in Dean and Seamus' debate about how best to get out of that afternoons potions lesson. He caught her looking a few times, each time giving her a small reassuring smile. When their eyes met for the fifth time, with Faith's concern still clearly evident he shook his head slightly, smiling and mouthed 'I'm ok'. Faith nodded and returned his smile then tried to concentrate on her breakfast, although as Seamus, who was sat across from her was illustrating his point by waving his fork around and sending bits of food flying off it, this proved difficult.

A few minutes later, just as Faith picked a particularly large piece of bacon that had escaped from Seamus' fork out of her hair and chucked it back at him there was a loud whooshing sound as the morning post arrived. At this point a slightly grumpy looking barn owl landed on the table between Faith and Seamus.

"Hey there Sagey" Faith cooed, reaching out to pet the owl and to remove the letter tied to his leg.

"Is that thing still around?" Seamus was looking disdainfully at the owl.

"He's an owl Seamus" Faith stated, as Sage wandered away from her to see if he could scrounge anything off Dean or Neville (something he was usually successful at).

"So?"

"So, they live…well…I don't know how long exactly, but longer than a few years. Sage is only six, he's still a baby" she smiled at the owl, who was looking expectantly from Neville to Dean and back again.

"Could've fooled me" Seamus grumbled "He acts like a grumpy old man!"

"Just 'cause you and the owl don't get on" Dean chipped in, as he fed Sage a few scraps of food (mainly those which Seamus had been sending flying earlier).

"Yeah, well, he's evil!" Seamus complained.

"Funny how it's only you that notices that" Faith said, watching Sage nuzzle into Neville's hand as he petted the owl absentmindedly.

"I'm telling you, that owl is out to get me, I can tell" he shot a glare at the animal.

"Uh huh, sure you can" she sounded like she was talking to someone who was particularly slow "Now please stop waving your fork at poor Sage, you're gonna injure him, or take someone's eye out" she paused "Hopefully your own" she added, sticking her tongue out.

"So what did he bring you anyway?" Dean asked curiously, as Faith coaxed Sage back over to her with some more scraps, before he took off back to the Owlery.

"I don't know yet" She replied "I might have had chance to read this if Finnigan wasn't once again threatening my poor owl!"

"He started it!" Seamus objected.

Faith rolled her eyes and opened the letter, it was from her parents. She had sent them an excited message the day after she had arrived at the castle telling them about the Tri-wizard tournament. The letter read:

_Dear Faith_

_It sounds like you are going to have a very exciting year at Hogwarts. Enjoy yourself, the Tri-wizard Tournament will definitely be an amazing spectacle and something for you to remember for a long time. We can tell by your letter (and the fact you made poor Sage fly all the way home only the day after he left) that you are very excited by the idea of the tournament, and so you should be. The tournament stopped years ago, so neither your father or uncles or even your grandparents witnessed it during their time at the school. We do however all know the history of the competition and know that you are very lucky to bear witness to its return._

_We know you are upset that Dumbledore has restricted entry to those who are of age but this is done for a very good reason. We know very well what you, Fred, and George are like and imagine you are cooking up some scheme even as you read this. Do not try it Faith. Do not endanger yourself by trying to outsmart your professors on this matter. They know what they are doing and why. Just enjoy watching the action from afar instead of getting yourself into trouble for a change._

_Enjoy the tournament but make sure you study hard too. Your OWLs are only a year away and if you want to do well you need to start preparing now. _

_Have fun, be safe, and we hope to hear from you again soon._

_Love_

_Mum & Dad_

Faith read the letter and then, grumbling passed it to the boys.

"I was hoping they were gonna tell me a bit more about the tournament" she told them.

Seamus, the letter in one hand, a forkful of food in the other chuckled "Instead they've just sent you a lecture."

"Yeah, on something the twins won't even let me help with, so fat chance of me actually being the danger to myself that that letter would suggest" she pulled a face.

"Cheer up, I'm sure you'll find plenty of other ways to injure yourself" Dean assured her.

"Aye, you've managed that fine without a tournament for the past three years" Seamus added.

"And hey look, there's another note here" Neville informed her, pulling said note out of the envelope, which he had been fiddling with, and passing it to her.

Faith smiled as she read it "It's from my little brother" she told the boys, before reading it out.

"_Faith, you are sooooo lucky, you're at Hogwarts, you got to go to the Quidditch World Cup and you get a really cool tournament thing. Do you think I could come see any of it? Pleeeease! Ask Dumbledore or McMonigle or whatever she's called! I'd be good. Or maybe you could send me something cool from it? You never did send me a desk. Hey, do you think they'll run it again next year? Then I'd be able to see it too. I really hope so. Anyway, Mum's telling me not to nag you so, um, bye. from Jeremy_"

By the time she finished reading this they were all chuckling.

"I love your brother's little notes" Dean informed her.

"Send him a desk?" Neville asked.

"Yeah…He was upset when I first came away so I said I'd try to send him one" Faith explained "Apparently the kid has a very good memory when it suits him."

"So nothing like his big sister then" Dean teased.

"Hey! I have a good memory" Faith objected "It's just the sense of direction, balance and coordination that I'm missing…"

"So, does this mean we have a new mission?" Seamus asked.

"Find Faith a sense of direction?" questioned Dean.

"No, although that might also help…"

"If you can find me one while you're on that'd be great" Neville added, grinning.

"Can you please get to the point Finnigan" Faith huffed.

"Our mission, gentlemen…and lady, well female…" Seamus started.

"Hey!" interrupted Faith.

"Our mission, is to retrieve some part of the tournament for little Jeremy" Seamus was grinning from ear to ear.

"Yeah, and it's not like that should be difficult, or dangerous" came Neville's sarcastic reply, which did very little to deter to plotting which Faith and Seamus had now started.

* * *

Later that day in transfiguration Faith was in trouble, again (although as she had been back in the castle for nearly a full week without a detention she felt she was doing fairly well all told). The class had each been given a hedgehog and were told that they were to turn them into pincushions, something which was bound to be more successful for some of them than others.

Faith, not great at transfiguration at the best of times (mainly due to a lack of concentration), was far too amused by the hedgehog itself to make any real effort at the lesson. The creature she had been given was quite a bold little thing, investigating every inch of her desk, chasing Neville's hedgehog off when it meandered a bit too far across from his side of the desk and even wandering confidently up to Faith's hand when she placed it down near the animal experimentally. Faith took an immediate shine to it.

"Hey there little fellow" she cooed at it "aren't you sweet? I bet you wouldn't mind getting out of this classroom."

"Oh no" Dean groaned, turning around to look at her over the back of his chair "Please tell me you're not about to attempt what I think you are."

"I'm going to liberate Mr Prickles here" Faith informed him, matter-of-factly.

Dean rolled his eyes and Seamus, sat next to him, turned around to join the conversation, informing Dean:

"It's got a name, you've had it mate."

"What do you plan on feeding it?" Neville quizzed Faith.

"Well, worms and stuff" she said "We live in an old castle, I'm sure there are plenty of bugs around."

"And you're going to catch them?" Neville had adopted Faith's 'I'm talking to an idiot' tone (which she usually reserved for Seamus or the twins).

"No, Mr Prickles is" she informed him, as if it was obvious "Ooo, we used to put dog food out for the hedgehogs at home. D'ya think the house elves could find me some?"

"Yes Tig, I'm sure that's something they regularly need" Dean replied, rolling his eyes.

"Why not? Fang lives here, he needs feeding…maybe Hagrid has some then…"

At this point Dean and Seamus both just sighed, shook their heads and turned back to their own hedgehogs, leaving Neville to continue trying to convince Faith that 'liberating' the hedgehog would not end well, to no avail.

Ten minutes later 'Mr Prickles' was safely stowed in Faith's bag and her hand was waving in the air for Professor McGonagall's attention. The professor looked up from the parchment she was writing on.

"Yes Miss Higgins?"

"Er, Professor. Could I have another hedgehog please? I took my eyes off mine for a minute and I think it's scuttled off into a corner somewhere" Faith did her best to look the picture of innocence.

"Indeed Miss Higgins?" McGonagall raised an eyebrow "Well in that case, I suggest you find it. We can not have animals running loose in the classroom and you are not getting another one."

Faith grumbled to herself and, whilst trying to think of a way around her lack of a hedgehog, got up from her seat so she could hunt for the imaginary missing one. She scuttled around under her desk, then crawled around in front of it and annoyed Seamus and Dean by trying to get under theirs, all while still looking for the hedgehog. Sat on the floor next to Dean she nudged his leg.

"Hey, can I borrow your hedgehog for a minute?" she murmured

"And you don't think McGonagall will notice that?" he asked, looking down at her sceptically.

"Well…not if you don't make it obvious, so can I?"

"Hmm, let me think…no" he then turned back to his desk.

Faith shifted around so she was next to Seamus.

"Seamus, can I…" she started.

"No" he interrupted.

"You didn't even let me finish!" Faith objected.

"Cause I know what you're gonna ask" he pointed out.

Just then a stern voice from the opposite side of the desk gained their attention.

"Miss Higgins" McGonagall was glaring down at her "How is distracting your classmates helping you find your missing hedgehog?"

"Er…" Faith struggled for an excuse "…I was asking them if they saw where it went?"

"Stop distracting Mr Thomas and Mr Finnigan and find the animal" McGonagall instructed her before returning to the front of the classroom.

Faith, grumbling to herself again, moved back around the desk to where her chair was. Deciding there might be something in her bag that would help (and briefly forgetting the rather spiky creature she had stowed in there) she began to rummage around in it.

"Oow!" her hand shot out of the bag and she sucked on her finger where she had injured herself. Her shout was enough to gain McGonagall's attention again (along with most of the class).

"I assume you have found your missing hedgehog, Miss Higgins" the professor stated.

Faith, her finger still in her mouth, grinned sheepishly then removed her injured hand from her mouth and carefully fished 'Mr Prickles' out of her bag.

"I don't know how it got in there Professor. It must have looked like a good place for a nest"

The look on McGonagall's face made it all too obvious she did not believe Faith.

"I will let you off this time Miss Higgins" she began sternly "But if any more hedgehogs inexplicably decide to nest in your bag you will be in detention, you understand?"

"Yes Professor" Faith mumbled, eyes cast down.

"Now get on with the lesson and stop disrupting the class."

Faith plonked herself back in her seat, releasing 'Mr Prickles' back onto the desk as she did so. She then amused herself by encouraging him to chase Neville's hedgehog who, up until this point, had been curled up in a tight ball and, for all Neville's attempts did not appear any more pincushion-y. The game of hedgehog chase continued for a few minutes, until Neville fended both Faith and Mr Prickles off by building a barricade from the various books and papers on the desk. At this point Faith looked up and noticed Professor McGonagall moving through the classroom inspecting the students and approaching their desk. Faith decided this was probably a good time to actually do some work and attempt the task they had been set, whatever affect this might have on poor Mr Prickles.

* * *

"Ooooowww!"

It was her second weekend back at Hogwarts and Faith was already in the Hospital Wing. This was not for some minor scrape or a spell gone wrong either. Nope, she had been a fourth year for only two weeks and Faith had already managed to break her ankle, badly.

"You're an idiot Tig" Seamus informed her 'sympathetically'.

Faith groaned in a mixture of pain and annoyance.

"It's your fault" she grumbled, glaring at Dean and Seamus who, along with Neville were sat at her bedside.

"Did we force you onto the broom?" Dean asked.

"Well, no…" Faith admitted.

"Therefore we can not be held responsible for your clumsiness and general lack of coordination" Dean reasoned.

"You two made the bet though!" she exclaimed, wincing as the pain in her leg flared again.

"You didn't have to accept" Dean pointed out.

"Aye, you knew it would end badly" Seamus added.

"Yeah, well, so did you two! And you knew I would accept!"

"Still doesn't make us responsible for your idiocy" Seamus argued.

"Yeah, well…HEY! I'm in pain here! A little sympathy!" Faith objected.

"You'll be fine" Dean informed her, a hint of sympathy finally trickling into his voice.

"Unless Madam Pomfrey murders you for being in here again" Seamus pointed out.

"Oh like you lot aren't in here regularly yourselves" Faith spat at them.

"Yeah usually carrying you" came Seamus' response.

Not what I…Oww!" Faith grimaced and her hands clenched into fists.

"Are you alright?" Neville's voice was full of concern.

"I just fell off a broom and am in the Hospital Wing, I'm great!" was the sharp, sarcastic response he received.

"Hey! No need to snap at me!" Neville exclaimed indignantly "It's these two winding you up!"

Faith gave him a small smile "I know, sorry Nev, it's just…" she winced again "that"

"Well you shouldn't have tried to fly" Seamus pointed out, at which point Neville and Dean had to hold down Faith's arms to stop her punching him and giving Madam Pomfrey another patient to deal with.

Seamus was, to a certain extent, right however. Faith would not have ended up in the Hospital Wing had the three of them not been out in the grounds on broomsticks. It had been the twins' idea to start with. Frustrated at not being able to play Quidditch all year they had convinced Faith, Seamus, and Dean to play a three on three game with them and Lee. Neville, all too aware of his ability to balance on a broom, or lack thereof, watched and kept score for them.

The game had gone well enough, with Fred, George, and Lee narrowly beating the younger students. It was later however, after the twins and Lee had returned to the castle on 'important business' leaving the others to continue messing about on brooms, when things had taken a turn for the worse. Pretty soon Seamus got bored of just flying and tossing the ball back and forth, so instead proposed a challenge. He bet the others that he could reach the edge of the Black Lake first and, of course, neither of them were willing to accept this as accurate.

The race had barely got underway however when, for Faith, things went horribly and painfully wrong. Just as she had reached a decent speed an owl had swooped down out of the Owlery, right over her head. It didn't touch her, but came pretty close and its surprise appearance gave Faith enough of a shock for her to loose the little sense of balance that she had and she soon found herself tumbling towards the very solid looking ground.

Neville was on his feet and running towards her before she even hit the ground and was quickly at her side, shouting up to the other two boys. They both came to a very abrupt halt when they realised what had happened, about faced and had soon swooped down to where she lay in a groaning, grumbling heap. The boys swiftly realised her left ankle was a twisted, bloody mess but between the three of them they still managed to get her upright. Neville and Dean then hoisted her so she had an arm around each of their shoulders and all but carried her into the castle and up to the Hospital Wing. Seamus ran ahead of them to alert Madam Pomfrey so she was well prepared and waiting for them by the time Neville and Dean manoeuvred a complaining Faith into the Hospital Wing.

So, Faith was now lying on a bed in the Hospital Wing, waiting for Madam Pomfrey, who had inspected her, performed a charm to relieve some of the pain and then scurried off to find a potion (she had decided, given how much damage Faith had done to her ankle, a spell would not suffice) to return. She was also, now that Neville and Dean had released her arms, trying to resist the urge to punch Seamus.

"Why's it always me?" she whined "Stupid owl!"

"See, evil" Seamus smirked.

"It wasn't Sage, Seamus" Faith sighed.

"How do you know?" he asked.

"Because it was bloody huge!" she exclaimed "About twice his size."

"Maybe he's grown" Seamus suggested.

"Since you last saw him?" Faith asked "A week ago?"

"Could've done" Seamus shrugged.

Faith sighed and gave up, she was in too much pain to continue such a nonsensical argument.

"It's not always you though" Dean informed her, looking thoughtful.

They all looked at him questioningly.

"It's usually Neville" he explained, shrugging.

"That's true" agreed Neville, grinning, trying to lighten Faith's mood.

The boys were just entering a debate over which of them injured themselves or caused trouble (unintentionally) most often when Madam Pomfrey returned and tried to shoo them away.

"Do they all have to go?" Faith asked, sounding slightly pathetic "It hurts and that stuff's gonna make it worse before it gets any better isn't it?"

"You have been in here and had this potion plenty of times before Miss Higgins, you know how it works" Madam Pomfrey informed her, slightly sharply "And besides that, they are causing a scene."

The boys all put on their best innocent faces.

"Exactly! I know it's gonna hurt. Please!" Faith begged "Just Neville, he's well behaved, he won't cause a scene!"

Faith heard Seamus begin muttering something about her making them sound like animals, but he swiftly shut up when Madam Pomfrey glared at him.

"Fine, Longbottom can stay, as long as he is quiet and behaves."

Neville nodded swiftly (and a bit frantically).

"But these other two troublemakers need to leave, now" Madam Pomfrey told them sternly.

Even through the pain in her leg Faith found it hard to suppress her grin at Dean and Seamus being called troublemakers (a name usually reserved for the twins, or her) and saw the boys ducking their heads as if doing the same.

So, Seamus and Dean said their goodbyes, telling Faith to 'Get fixed soon' and then scurried out of the room before they were deemed to be causing any more trouble.

"Here, drink up" Madam Pomfrey instructed, handing Faith a cup of yellowish liquid. "It will fix your leg, although I'm not promising it will be a pleasant experience. It might yet discourage you from ending up back in here though. Oh and it is going to make you drowsy so, considering the time it will be best if you stay in overnight."

Faith wrinkled her nose at the foul smell coming from the cup in her hand, then downed it as quickly as she could (still tasting what seemed like a mixture of all the most unpleasant things imaginable) and handed the cup back to Madam Pomfrey, who then moved off back towards her office.

As Madam Pomfrey left Faith settled back on the bed. As the potion began to take effect and she felt the unsettling and painful feeling of bones beginning to shift back together she grabbed Neville's hand and held on tight.

They sat like that for some time, the only sound Faith's occasional hiss or groan of pain. In time the side effects of the potion started to take effect and Faith began to drop off, curling up on her side, her injured leg stretched out and her grip still tight on Neville's hand. When sleep finally overcame her fully and she released his hand Neville let out an audible sigh. Faith really did not know her own strength, especially when in pain. He gently tucked her hand in at her side, pulled the blankets up around her and then settled back into his chair at her bedside. He stayed there, watching her shift slightly in her sleep and slowly dozing off himself until, about fifteen minutes before lights out Madam Pomfrey returned. She roused him and then shooed him out of the Hospital Wing, telling him to get back to Gryffindor Tower and not to worry, Faith would be back and as lively as ever in the morning.


	8. Seamus' Fan Club

**A/N: So, maybe I am actually improving at this, it's been just over a month again, I might yet get to the point I am posting on a sensible type basis…maybe… Anyways, I would just like to say thank you for the lovely reviews I've got, they always make me smile. :) I promise I don't deliberately make you wait between chapters I just get very easily distracted or my brain refuses to write words down in a sensible coherent form.**

**Yes, anyway, enough excuses again. Enjoy the crazy story that my brain produces. Once again I own nothing but crazy Faith/Tig type person, even if I would like to.**

Chapter Eight: Seamus' Fan Club 

"So have you any idea where the leprechaun and the little lion are?"

It was a Saturday in mid October and Dean and Neville were in the Entrance Hall heading towards the Great Hall for tea. They had not been able to find a trace of the other two anywhere, or at least not in the Common Room or anywhere between there and the Entrance Hall, which was as far as they had bothered to look.

"Seamus and Faith?" Neville asked.

Dean nodded.

"Nope, last time I saw Faye she was sat in a corner with the twins and Lee, looking suspicious" Neville explained.

"So as per usual then" Dean pointed out.

"Yup, pretty much" Neville agreed "Haven't the foggiest where Seamus is though."

"That bodes well" Dean grimaced.

Just at that moment a small, slightly ungainly shape shot down from the stairs behind them, ducked through between them, stopped and dragged both boys by the arm until they collided.

"I'm not here, you haven't seen me"

Looking down the boys saw a rather out of breath Faith crouching down slightly, attempting to hide behind them while also peering through the slight gap between them.

"What did you do Tig?" Dean asked.

"Why do you always assume I did something?" Faith objected.

"Because you usually did." he pointed out "And you hiding and trying to pretend you're not here is probably a good sign"

"Well I didn't _do _anything" Faith stated, defiantly.

Neville sensed a catch. "But?" he prompted.

"Well…" Faith began hesitantly "I might have said something, and Seamus also might now be trying to kill me."

"Where is he?" Dean asked, looking around as if Seamus would appear out of thin air.

"Somewhere up there chasing me." Faith pointed towards the stairs "Thankfully because of my lovely brothers I know the secret passages better than him. I lost him somewhere on the fourth floor."

"And why _exactly_ did you need to loose him?" Neville questioned.

"Er…well…I may have said something to Curley, Preeny and Titch that he didn't like." Faith was scratching her head and looking sheepish. The boys shared a confused glance before turning blank, bemused eyes on Faith.

Dean spoke what they were both thinking "Who?"

"Oh you know, those three second years who spent all last year mooning over that Irish Hufflepuff bloke mainly because of his accent, the seventh year, Damian thingy…"

It was at times like this that knowing Faith for over three years and having learnt to translate her 'explanations' came in handy.

"You mean Romilda Vane, Matilda whatsername and er…the other one?" Neville asked.

"Yes, exactly. Preeny, Curley and Titch." Faith said, as if it had been obvious from the start.

This was getting them nowhere.

"What did you tell them?" Neville prompted.

"Weeeell…" Faith began "It seems they just figured out Seamus is also Irish, they're clearly not that observant, I mean…"

"Tig!" Dean interrupted, stopping her rambling explanation "What did you tell them?"

Faith, looking increasingly sheepish, finally got to the point, "I may have let slip that Seamus is single. I may also have accidentally led them to believe he likes younger girls. This might possibly have led to them not leaving him alone all day."

The two boys snorted with laughter.

"He will be pleased." Dean chuckled, with Neville nodding his agreement.

"Faith Higgins I am going to kill you!" A loud voice called out. Seamus had just appeared at the top of the stairs. Neville and Dean turned to watch him make his swift decent, breaking Faith's human shield in doing so.

"Eep!" Faith squealed, ducking behind Neville, clutching his elbows and peering around him to watch her impending doom. When he reached them Seamus made a couple of attempt to get to Faith, while Neville tried to keep himself, and some distance between the pair of them, Dean tried to grab Seamus and Faith just remained hidden behind Neville. After about a minute or so of this Dean managed to grab Seamus by the arms and hold him where he couldn't get to Faith.

"You're not murdering Tig" he informed the smaller boy, who was still struggling.

"Why not?" Seamus objected.

"Because we're not gonna be your alibi" Dean informed him.

"And we're not bailing you out of Azkaban" Neville added.

"But…"

"Relax, they'll soon have forgotten about you" Dean attempted to placate him "And besides killing Faith won't make them leave you alone."

"Might do" Seamus huffed "It'd make me feel better anyway."

"You'd soon feel guilty about murdering a poor, sweet, innocent girl." a voice piped up from behind Neville.

The three boys all gave her questioning looks.

"You are anything but sweet and innocent" Dean pointed out, releasing Seamus, who seemed to have calmed down some, or had at least forgotten about violence for now.

Faith took a cautious step to her side, so she was stood beside Neville, but still ready to dart back to her hiding place at any sign of violence.

"I'm sorry Seamus." She said "I didn't mean to get you a trio of stalkers. In fact I didn't mean to say anything to them at all, it just kinda, er, happened."

Seamus was still glaring at her.

"Don't worry, if they don't stop soon I'll turn all those years of learning from Fred and George to good use." she promised him.

Seamus huffed "Fine, I won't murder you, but you're not totally forgiven. I got ten house points taken off me 'cause of this."

"How?" Faith asked, confused.

"McGonagall caught me on the fourth floor just after you disappeared somewhere." Seamus explained "Apparently I should not be 'charging through the corridors and threatening other students, even ones who seem to take pleasure in causing trouble.'"

"I do not take pleasure in causing trouble!" Faith objected.

The boys all just gave her incredulous looks.

"Well, not for you lot at least, the Slytherins and people I don't like on the other hand…" she grinned "…maybe a little."

Neville and Dean laughed at this and even Seamus, whose mood was beginning to brighten a little now, chuckled. The four of them then headed into the Great Hall, before McGonagall or anyone else could take more house points off them for whatever other mischief or chaos they were thought to be part of.

* * *

"Urgh, three whole feet on the uses of poisonous plants in antidotes, I hate Snape. I thought Potions was a practical subject!" Faith whined.

"You'd rather he poison you?" Neville asked, glancing up from the book he had his head buried in, to look at her across the table.

"Well no." Faith's tone told of how obvious this answer was "I just don't understand why we have to write about potions instead of making them."

Neville gave a small snort of laughter "You and Seamus make potions unattended? I think the answer to that is obvious."

"Huh?"

"You'd blow the whole blooming castle up!" he exclaimed.

"No we wouldn't" Faith began to object "Maybe a small part of it."

Neville chuckled and nodded his head as if to say 'exactly' then stuck his nose back in his book as Faith added another piece of parchment to the mounting pile of bits she had crumpled up.

The two of them were sat at a desk in the library, attempting to make some progress with the mountain of homework the teachers seemed intent on giving them. They were in the library because over the years they had realised that Faith stood a much better chance of actually getting her homework done when removed from distractions such as the Common Room, Fred, George, Lee, Dean and Seamus. So it had become something of a habit for the pair of them to do their homework together in the library.

Today however there was another reason why Faith was willingly doing homework. She was trying to hide from Seamus. Ever since she had let slip to Romilda and the others about Seamus being single (about a week ago) it had been impossible to go the whole day without seeing them at least five times. The three girls had taken to popping up all over the castle, wherever Seamus was, or even where they had spotted Faith, Dean or Neville in the hope that Seamus would be nearby.

This meant that Seamus had been grumpy of late, especially towards Faith, and all four friends were well and truly sick of their new giggling entourage. Faith had been hiding out in the Owlery a lot lately, somewhere she loved spending time and Seamus hated. However he seemed to have got over that in the last couple of days, enough to follow her there. Apparently his need to whinge at Faith was greater than his dislike of Sage and his feathered friends. So, Faith was quite happy to get away from the Common Room and a sulky Seamus, even if it did mean doing Potions homework.

After a couple more minutes of quite work Neville looked up from his book again and informed her "You know if Seamus doesn't kill you soon I might just do it for him."

"Why?" Faith objected, quite loudly, earning herself a glare and a 'Shush' from Madame Pince, who stuck her head around a nearby bookshelf. "What did I do now?"

Neville gestured over her shoulder to a spot behind the nearest shelf, from where there was a distinct shuffling and giggling sound drifting across to them, and three pairs of legs visible through the gaps between the books. Faith glanced over her shoulder, noted this, then turned back round and affected her best innocent face.

"Oh" She began "Well, you know killing me won't help with that. Maybe you should consider killing dear Mr Finnigan instead."

"Seamus isn't here" Neville pointed out "Yet they still are"

"Good point, well made." Faith paused, the cogs in her brain apparently whirring "Hey! Maybe they've moved on with their obsession! To you."

"Huh" Neville scoffed "That's likely."

"Why not?" Faith inquired.

"Well, I'm me." Neville stated, as if this explained everything "Clumsy, useless Neville. Look at me."

"I am" Faith smiled "I see nothing wrong. I see a sweet smart guy who is in no way useless, has protected me from Seamus' murderous tendencies on numerous occasions and is my best friend in the world." Faith smiled kindly at him, resisting the urge to comment on how handsome he was becoming, _he's Neville_, she reminded herself, _he is your best friend, stop making things weird brain_.

Neville blushed at her words, looking down bashfully. "Thank you Faye." He looked up and smiled at her "but I don't think many people see that when they look at me."

"Well they should." Faith stated, matter-of-factly.

Neville smiled at her again.

"Hang on" he started "If I'm your best friend what does that make Dean and Seamus?"

"A pair of idiots?" Faith supplied.

"No" Neville chuckled "I mean, aren't they your best friends too?"

"Well yeah" Faith shrugged "I love them to bits, Fred and George too, just you're different. You're special. For a start I don't have to worry about you throwing me in a snowdrift, the lake or down a hill because you're bored or think it'd be funny."

"Um, thanks, I think" he sounded slightly unsure if that was a compliment "Wait, down a hill?"

"Yeah, d'ya not remember?" she asked "Last winter. Hogsmeade. Up from the Shrieking Shack. Seamus. I landed in a snowdrift, again."

"Oh yeah" Neville suddenly realised they were well away from the original point of the conversation. "Anyway, you're sidetracking me. The point was Curley, Preeny and Titch as you put it are hovering behind that shelf over there."

"Well it's hardly my fault they're not bright enough to realise I'm hiding from Seamus so he's nowhere near" she protested.

"Faith" Neville gave her a 'you know it's your fault' look.

"Alright, alright, I'll deal with them" Faith threw up her hands in resignation, then pushed her chair away from the table and made her way around the shelf to where the girls stood.

Neville watched her approach the girls and could see her speaking to them but could not make out what was being said. Within a couple of minutes the three younger girls had scuttled out of the library at high speed. Faith then reappeared around the book shelf, bouncing along looking very pleased with herself, with a smug grin on her face. She plonked herself back down in her seat, then humming quietly to herself picked her quill back up and pretended to get on with her work. Neville tried his best to quiz her on what had just happened but all he could get out of her was that she 'fixed it', so in the end he gave up and went back to his book. After a couple more minutes working (or in Faith's case pretending to and doodling instead) Faith looked up at Neville again.

"Hey, Nev?" she began quietly.

"Hmm?" Neville hadn't looked up yet.

"How you doing?" Faith asked softly.

"I'm not getting very far, this book seems to go round in circles"

"No, I don't mean that" she smiled slightly "I mean, about, um, you know what happened in Defence a few weeks ago."

Neville looked up and saw the same expression of concern on her face as she had worn at breakfast the day after their first Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson of the year. He smiled at her.

"Faye, honestly, I'm ok" he assured her "where has this come from now?"

Faith shrugged "I dunno. I just haven't had much chance to talk to you without Dean and Seamus around since. You sure you're ok?"

"Yes, thank you for worrying though." He smiled across the desk at her "I mean, I'm kinda use to the situation now, it just caught me off guard the other week. It is nice to know I've got someone to talk to about it when I need to though, no matter how dangerous and mad she may be." He grinned at this last remark.

"Hey!" Faith was grinning too as she chucked a piece of crumpled up parchment across the desk at him.

Soon a small play fight had broken out between them with the pair of them giggling like mad and Faith's mountain of crumpled up pieces of parchment flying back and forth across the desk. It wasn't long before Madam Pince's angry face once again appeared from behind a bookshelf and the two friends found themselves swiftly grabbing their things and being kicked out of the library. They were still chuckling when they arrived outside the door; when Madam Pince disappeared back into the library with a disapproving 'humph' Faith collapsed in a giggling heap on the floor. She managed to calm down and right herself after a minute or so, although she was still grinning like an idiot as she clambered to her feet. Neville, also still grinning, handed Faith her bag, which she had abandoned on the floor of the corridor, Faith linked her arm through his and they slowly made their way back to Gryffindor Tower.

* * *

Care of Magical Creatures, Faith and the boys were quickly discovering, was a very dangerous subject. Since they had returned to the Castle for their fourth year the four of them had not managed to make it through a single lesson without at least one, usually more, of them getting injured in some way (admittedly they were usually only fairly minor injuries). It seemed Hagrid's new favourite creatures (they could hardly be considered animals), the Blast-Ended Skrewts thought Hogwarts students were the perfect target to practice their attacks on. This meant it was practically impossibly to come away from the lesson without being bitten, burnt or stung at least once and, as the creatures were growing alarmingly quickly these injuries were getting more and more painful. Faith was starting to wonder if the hideous things weren't planning a mutiny or revolution of some sort and were practicing for when they would make a move to take over the castle, which was a horribly disturbing thought.

"Why can Hagrid never get fascinated by something cute and fluffy?" Faith complained to the boys as they walked back from Hagrid's cabin after another painful lesson.

"Yeah and not dangerous" Dean added, glancing dubiously back at where the Skrewts' cases were still visible in the distance.

"Like squirrels" Faith continued, inspecting her hand where she had been burnt during the lesson "I could get on board with squirrels"

"Squirrels?" Dean eyed her incredulously.

"Aye, c'mon you can't tell me you wouldn't prefer squirrels to those vicious little gits" she reasoned.

"Well that's true" Neville, who was also nursing a burnt hand, agreed "At least they can't sting or burn, and are probably less likely to bite"

"Yes" Dean began slowly "But they're also not exactly magical"

"Maybe that could be our assignment" piped up Seamus "Breed new squirrels with magical powers"

Faith and Neville nodded thoughtfully, as if this was a reasonable suggestion. Dean just gave them all a look that said 'there is something seriously wrong with you'.

"You lot are all as mad as each other today" he informed them.

"Yeah, well I think you're the only one those monsters didn't injure today!" Seamus objected.

Their conversation continued until they reached the Entrance Hall where it stopped abruptly as they observed the scene before them. As soon as they stepped in through the castle doors they found their way to the Great Hall, and the tea that was calling out to them, blocked by a large crowd of students all milling around a large sign at the foot of the staircase. All Faith could make out of the sign from where they stood was 'Tri…ment" which did not tell her an awful lot, but judging by the reaction of the other students the rest of the sign said something exciting. She looked up at Dean and Neville, hoping that with the benefit of their height they could make out some more of the sign.

"Can you see what it says?" she asked.

"Something about the Triwizard Tournament" Dean observed "Other than that, no."

"C'mon" Seamus said as he began to try and make some progress through the crowd "Let's go investigate"

So, the four of them squeezed their way though the crowd as far as they could towards the sign (which wasn't far) and then Dean and Neville between them managed to decipher what it said and read it too the other two.

"The delegations from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang will be arriving at, er…" Dean faltered, trying to crane his head around to read the next bit, which was obscured from his view, to no avail.

Neville carried on for him. "…6 o'clock on Friday 30th of October. Lessons will end, um…"  
"…half an hour early. Students will return their bags and books to their dormitories and something about standing outside to greet them and a feast" Dean finished.

"Something about standing outside? I'm sure that's what it says" Faith's tone dripped with sarcasm.

"So I paraphrased, you get the gist" Dean countered.

"Aye, it's all starting in a week!" Seamus was grinning manically.

"Then we can start our mission to retrieve Jeremy a piece of it!" Faith's grin rivalled Seamus'.

"Not that again" Neville complained "I thought you'd forgotten."

But, as the two of them were back to planning harebrained schemes they did not seem to hear him.

Seamus certainly heard when Dean informed him "Hey look Seamus it's your fan club" though. All three of the others followed his eye line and spotted 'Curley, Preeny and Titch' standing not far off. When the three younger girls realised they were being watched and saw who by they quickly disappeared into the surrounding crowd. The three boys looked at Faith with surprised expressions.

"What exactly did you threaten them with Tig?" Seamus asked her.

"Why do you always assume threats are involved?" Faith protested, trying to look as innocent as she could.

"Because I saw you speak to them in the library and now they're totally avoiding us" Neville pointed out.

"Not that we're complaining" Seamus added, with the other two boys nodding their agreement.

"I didn't threaten them" Faith told them "Well, not exactly…"

"But?" prompted Dean.

"Well I just told them I knew another guy who is much more handsome than Mr Finnigan here, who also has a nice accent and who doesn't have a friend who is likely to dump large amounts of some unmentionable substance on them if they don't stop stalking him." The boys were all chuckling by she finished her explanation. Faith smiled, her innocent face still in place.

"No, no threats at all" Dean chortled.

"Hey, did you want rid of them or not?" Faith asked, indignantly.

"Alright" Dean held his hands up "Fair point"

"So who did you tell them was handsome and whatever?" Neville asked curiously.

"Zacharias Smith" Faith grinned a Cheshire Cat grin. The boys all burst out laughing.

"Oh he's going to hate you if he finds out it's your fault" Dean informed her.

"Doesn't he anyway? For no reason" Faith pouted.

"You did nearly tip him out of a boat into the lake the first day you met him" Dean pointed out.

"So? I did the same with you two and you don't hate me"

"Are you sure about that?" Seamus asked, innocently.

"Well…" Faith pulled a face "Most of the time you don't"

At this point Neville caught their attention and gestured through the crowd. Peering through between a few groups of nearby students they could see Zacharias Smith, looking rather annoyed and not far away from him a certain trio of giggling girls. The four friends watched the scene before them for a little bit, then turning to look at one another burst out laughing again.


	9. International Elf Rescue

**A/N: So much for getting better at reliability…Anyways, here we go. More adventures of Tig the mad little lion. :)**

**Not sure how well this one works, especially towards the end and whether it seems forced or not, but we shall see. Again I'm not great at dropping the comedy side of Faith for the more serious. Also I borrowed some dialogue from the book for accuracy type purposes, but as usual I own nothing but Faith (including any obscure references I made).**

**Right, enough rambling excuses, on with the random brain spewing generally known as story. :D**

Chapter Nine: International Elf Rescue

"How d'ya think they're getting here?"

It was Friday 30th October, the fourth year Gryffindors had escaped Potions early and Faith, Neville, Dean and Seamus were now making their way back down to the Entrance Hall after depositing their bags and books in Gryffindor Tower.

"I think riding squirrels." Faith informed the boys, looking thoughtful.

"What is it with you and squirrels lately?" Dean asked, looking at her like she was mad "You were going to breed mutant ones the other day."

"Yeah well, they're cute" Faith pointed out "And who knows, these other schools might be getting a head start on the program. Why not?"

Neville and Seamus just looked at her, while Dean pointed out "Because that's mental."

"And?" Faith shrugged "So's Seamus, but he still exists"

"I'm mental?" Seamus objected, as the other two chuckled "I'm not the one going on about giant squirrels"

"Nobody said anything about giant squirrels" Faith remarked.

"Well how do you propose someone rides an average sized one?" Seamus questioned.

"Shrinking spell" she shrugged, as if this had been the obvious answer.

By this point they had reached the Entrance Hall and the bickering match that was bound to break out soon between Faith and Seamus was prevented by Professor McGonagall ordering them into a line with the rest of their House. Faith fell into line behind the boys and watched in amusement as trying to ensure her students were organised and presentable seemed to cause McGonagall to have a minor nervous breakdown.

"Weasley straighten your hat" she barked at Ron. Faith watched as he did so, only for it to tip over the opposite way instead.

"Miss Patil, take that ridiculous thing out of your hair" came the next snapped order, in response to which Faith could clearly hear Parvati (who stood just behind her) muttering grumpily under her breath.

Then the inevitable happened.

"Miss Higgins, try to act your age instead of like an excited five year old."

Faith who, as could be expected, had been bouncing excitedly on her heels and grinning like a fool, scowled and tried to stand still. She could distinctly hear the three boys and slightly further away, Fred, George and Lee sniggering at her.

Faith attempted to compose herself, if only to stop the boys mocking her when McGonagall had to tell her off again, but when the Heads of Houses began to lead the students outside she couldn't help but grin excitedly. Two minutes after they had been lined up on the front steps she was bouncing again. George, who stood between Fred and Lee two rows behind her, leaned around the fifth year Hufflepuff who stood between them.

"Careful sis" he muttered, with a grin "Or you're gonna be sent home and made to wait until you're actually old enough to come back to Hogwarts."

Faith stuck her tongue out at him, which all things considered, was not really helping her case.

They were not stood on the steps long before the contingents from the two other schools arrived, not on giant (or indeed regular sized) squirrels, but in much more spectacular and attention-grabbing ways. The party from Beauxbatons were the first to arrive, swooping down out of the sky in a huge horse drawn carriage. Then, as the Beauxbatons students retreated into the castle complaining about the cold, the Durmstrang group arrived, rising out of the depths of the Black Lake in a pirate ship (or at least it was a pirate ship in Faith's eyes). The most exciting discovery the Hogwarts students made however was that amongst the Durmstrang students was Victor Krum, Bulgarian Quidditch legend.

"D'ya think he'll give me lessons?" Seamus asked the other three excitedly as they filed back into the castle behind the foreign students.

"Sure Seamus" Dean replied sarcastically "I'm sure that's exactly why he came all this way."

"To teach some random Irish boy Quidditch, why not?" Faith added, in an equally sarcastic tone.

"Well I can hope" Seamus grumbled.

"You might stand a chance of an autograph" Neville suggested then, looking about him added "If everyone else hadn't had the same idea."

They had just passed a group of girls squabbling over who could get Krum's autograph in lipstick and there was also a group of young Slytherins nearby who seemed to be debating if they could get away with running back to their common room for something to write with.

"Yeah shouldn't be too hard Seamus" Faith told him brightly "You only have to fight the whole school for it"

Seamus humphed and the four friends headed across the hall to the Gryffindor table.

They sat down next to Fred, George and Lee who, like many people in the hall were still peering over their shoulders towards the entrance where the Durmstrang students stood.

"Can you believe it?" Lee said by way of greeting "Krum, here, at Hogwarts! What d'ya reckon the chances of him introducing us to other players are?"

Faith just gave him her 'are you an idiot' look.

"About the same as him giving Seamus Quidditch lessons?" Dean guessed.

"Quidditch lessons?" George's attention turned from the Bulgarians.

"Yeah, Seamus reckons it's likely to happen" Faith informed him.

"It could." Seamus was adamant.

"Good luck with that mate" Fred said, as they all watched the Durmstrang students sit down at the Slytherin table. "Looks like you might have to deal with lovely Mr Malfoy and his cronies for that."

Seamus pulled a face "I'd rather not."

"Yeah, that's Faye's area of expertise" Neville supplied, smiling at her.

Faith smiled back. "That's true" she nodded "although they were all a lot smaller then."

The conversation continued for a few minutes longer, descending, as usual, slowly into madness, before it was halted by Dumbledore calling the hall to silence.

After a few minutes of Dumbledore speaking, greeting the guests and introducing the tournament that was to take place that year the feast appeared on the plates spread along the tables. The selection was rather more exotic than the Hogwarts students were used to. Faith pulled a face as she inspected a dubious looking plate that had appeared in front of her. She prodded at it with a knife.

"Is it just me or is that snails?" she asked, looking up at Seamus, who sat across from her. He just shrugged and reached for the Steak and Kidney Pie which sat slightly further down the table.

"It's Escargot I think." Lee informed her.

Faith gave him a confused look "Pardon?"

"French delicacy" he explained, doing his best to look knowledgeable on the subject.

"Snails" Dean added, when Faith's confused look was showing no sign of disappearing.

Faith's nose wrinkled and she pulled a face. The boys laughed at her reaction.

"S'matter sis, do you not fancy something exotic?" Fred chuckled

"You never know, you might like it." George added.

"I'd rather my food was never capable of producing slime thanks" Faith informed them. Then, pointing the spoon she had been using to ladle vegetables onto her plate at them threateningly added "and I am _not_ trying frogs' legs either."

"Well you're no fun." Fred informed her.

"I don't see you lot grabbing for the plate" Faith pointed out, gesturing at it "or searching for frogs' legs either."

"Well I can't" Neville put in before they had a chance to drag him unwillingly into the challenge "Trevor would never forgive me."

"Oh yes, how is old Trevor?" Fred asked a touch of false concern in his voice.

"Not showing any strange signs is he?" George added.

The others all gave them a suspicious look.

"What did you do to him now?" Neville groaned.

"What do you mean now?" George feigned hurt  
"You say that like we've done something to him before." Fred looked aghast at the accusation.

Dean began the list, counting them off on his fingers. "Trying to give him wings, seeing how high you could charm him to jump…"

"…giving him fur when you tried to turn him into a rabbit…" Neville supplied.

"Alright, alright" Fred held up his hands defensively "We admit Trevor has, on occasion, been a slightly unwilling test subject"

"But we haven't been near him since we came back" George swore.

"Well, apart from when he got lost and hopped into our dorm"

"But we haven't put any charms on him."

"Or potions" Fred added quickly, as Faith opened her mouth.

"There's not a lot of scope testing things on a toad" George informed the younger students.

"First years are much more useful" Fred added, grinning slightly manically.

Faith rolled her eyes and privately swore not to accept any food or drink off the twins if it had been out of her sight.

* * *

Later that evening Faith sat cross-legged on her bed in her pyjamas listening to Hermione rant. Lavender and Parvati, who were bustling around at the opposite side of the room getting ready for bed, seemed to be doing their best to tune her out.

"You know there are hundreds of them, all across the country and here! At Hogwarts!" Faith nodded, only half listening. Hermione had spent a lot of time ranting about elf rights over the past few weeks.

"It's awful, they're mistreated you know. Just by living here and ignoring it you're participating in the abuse of House-Elves!" her insistent voice rose as she spoke and as she finished her sentence she turned angry eyes on Faith.

Faith instinctively held her hands up defensively "Hermione, I'm sorry but no matter how much you go on I am not going to buy one of those badges."

"Why not?" Hermione demanded "Your best friend did."

"Yeah, I heard about you cornering Nev." Faith said, raising her eyebrows.

"I did _not _corner him." Hermione objected.

"No" Faith's tone was sarcastic "You just found him while I was with the twins and Dean and Seamus were awol and glared at him for about twenty minutes"

"So?"

"So he hardly counts as a willing participant." Faith's exasperation was beginning to show.

"Yes, well, that is irrelevant." Hermione insisted "Why will you not buy a badge?"

"Because the House-elves enjoy it!" Faith exclaimed, frustrated at Hermione's insistence "They love their work, they're always really chirpy and cheerful when I go down there"

"Yes, that's what your partners in crime claim too." Hermione humphed

"Who?"

"Fred and George" Hermione explained "But you are missing the point, they're only happy because they know no different. How could they possibly be happy being oppressed like that! Could you be?"

"Well no, but I'm not a House-elf." Faith pointed out the obvious.

"And to be fair she's hardly a normal human being either" Lavender chipped in, glancing over from where she now sat on the edge of her bed.

"Thank you Lavender?" Faith was unsure if this was an insult or a compliment.

Lavender smiled in her direction and explained "I mean there's plenty of people enjoy cooking and some who enjoy cleaning too. My mum definitely does."

"Yes, but they're not forced into it." Hermione's glare was now focused on Lavender "If all their rights were taken away and they were forced to be someone's _slave _they wouldn't"

"That's humans though Hermione." Faith reasoned "House-elves are different, they're wired differently somehow. They enjoy the work!"

Hermione sniffed dismissively. "So you say. Isn't that convenient, when we need them to do the work?"

Faith groaned in frustration "I'm not just saying it though 'Mione, I've been down to the kitchens, I've met them, talked to them, they love it. They potter around quite happily in their little tea towels."

"Tea towels!" Hermione exclaimed, voice rising several octaves and increasing in volume. Faith flinched and shot Lavender and Parvati an apologetic look, as Hermione rounded on her again.

"We oppress them and can not even give them the dignity of clothes!"

Before Hermione could get up to steam again Faith interrupted her. "Er, I'm really sorry 'Mione, I've just remembered I need to ask the boys something."

"It's nearly 11pm on a Friday night." Hermione pointed out "What could you possibly have to ask them that desperately?"

"Oh big, important things. Very important, vital even." Faith rambled. Then, giving Lavender and Parvati another apologetic look and mouthing 'sorry' she shot out of the room and down the stairs at top speed, not even stopping to grab her slippers or a jumper.

* * *

Faith knocked frantically on the door of the 4th year boys' dorm, all the while bouncing on the balls of her feet attempting to keep warm. It took a couple of minutes for it to open.

"Thank you, you are my saviour, I love…oh, Hi Harry" Faith grinned slightly sheepishly.

Harry grinned back. "Hi Tig, not who you were expecting?"

"No" Faith admitted "I thought Seamus and Ron were closest to the door."

"Yes, well, this lot all spontaneously lost the ability to work their legs about a minute ago." He informed her, stepping back to let Faith into the room. She wandered into the room, stopping near the middle where she could see all three of her boys, all sat at the heads of their beds reading, Neville a Herbology book, Dean what looked like a muggle novel and Seamus a brightly coloured comic. She received a 'Hi' from Neville and Dean and a small wave from Seamus.

"Fat lot of good you lot are in my hour of need." She glared (only half jokingly) at them, hands on her hips.

"And what exactly do you need?" Seamus asked, his comic still in his hand.

"Sanctuary" Faith informed them matter-of-factly.

"Why should we give you sanctuary?" Seamus challenged "You did just wake us up."

"I did not, you're never asleep before midnight unless you have to be."

"Oh yeah, how do you know?"

Faith raised her eyebrows and starting listing reasons off on her fingers "Three and a bit years of crashing this dorm at all hours. The five or six times you tried to do the same before realising the stairs would tip you off every time no matter how quickly you run. Three days sharing a tent with you and Dean at the Quidditch World Cup. Oh, and you were reading when I came in." she finished, giving him an insightful look.

"Ah…" was all Seamus could come out with.

"What do you need sanctuary from Faye?" Neville asked.

"Hermione and her Mad Elf Liberation Movement, or whatever it's called" She explained, settling herself cross-legged on the foot of Dean's bed. She looked across the room towards Harry and Ron.

"How do you get her to stop?" she implored.

"We bought her badges." Harry shrugged.

"And that made her stop?"

"Well, no." he admitted.

"But she did calm down with it a bit. For a while at least." Ron explained, looking increasingly dubious as he spoke.

"So basically she'd only stop nagging if I became an active member of International Elf Rescue?" Faith complained.

The two boys nodded, smiling sympathetically. Faith groaned and flopped backwards onto Dean's bed.

"Great. That's just brilliant. At least you lot can escape it come bedtime." She moaned

"I don't know about that" Dean said "You're not the only unauthorized visitor we get."

"Huh?" Faith, head upside down as she was still laid on her back, gave him a confused look.

"Hermione" Harry put in "She discovered she could get up here in first year, before even you I think."

Faith groaned again "Oh great, you mean even sanctuary's not safe from The Elf Protection Brigade?"

"Nope" Harry replied, as the others shook their heads.

Faith huffed and lay prone on the end of Dean's bed for a minute or so before a shiver ran through her and she realised how cold she was. She sat up and tried to pull the patchwork quilt off the bottom of Dean's bed to wrap around herself.

"Hey" he objected, shifting from his position and trying to fend her off his blankets. There then ensued a short and fairly violent tug of war match over the quilt which ended with a loud thump when Dean gave a particularly large tug, causing Faith to loose her grip on the quilt and topple off the bed.

"Oow! Bully!" she complained from her position flat on her back on the floor.

"Not my fault you have no balance. Besides you started it." Dean pointed out.

Faith, grumbling to herself, levered herself up. Just as she got to her feet she was hit by something from Neville's direction.

"Hey! Don't you…oh, thanks" she smiled, changing track mid-sentence when she realised he had tossed her his thick black and grey cardigan. She put it on, fastening the front right up to her neck then, grinning wiggled her arms around a bit, showing the boys how her hands had disappeared a good three inches from the ends of the sleeves. She then settled on the end of Neville's bed where she hoped she was less likely to get tipped off. She snuggled into her spot, tucking her feet under the bottom of Neville's blankets and wondering to herself if she could sneak off with his cardigan. It was warm, comfortable and smelled like Neville which, in her book, was definitely a good combination.

"I'll go back in a bit." She sleepily informed the boys "Just let me hide out here 'til there's a chance Hermione's asleep"

She heard Seamus mutter something sarcastic in response but was suddenly too sleepy to bother working out what, let alone responding.

* * *

The next thing Faith knew it was light outside, Neville was no longer in his bed, and she was buried under a heap of pillows, with Dean and Seamus stood at either side of the bed sniggering.

"Oh yes, and where have you been?" Lavender greeted as Faith wandered into the girls' dorms a few minutes later (after she had chucked all of the pillows Dean and Seamus had piled on her back at them). It was nearly half eight in the morning.

"Told you last night" Faith yawned, rubbing her eyes with hands curled into the sleeves of the cardigan she still wore "The boys'"

"Yes, but we expected you to come back." Parvati pointed out.

"I did" Faith gave a small cheeky smile, spreading her arms out "Here I am."

"I meant last night" Parvati reiterated, as if talking to a small child.

"Yeah…so did I" Faith admitted, sitting down heavily on her bed.

"And?" Lavender prompted impatiently.

"And what?" Faith asked, confused "I accidentally fell asleep."

"Are you sure?" Lavender asked, Faith just gave her a blank look.

"Pretty sure" she said, looking thoughtful "It would explain why I woke up to Dean and Seamus playing 'How many pillows can we pile on Tig before she wakes up and beats us with them'"

"Oh yes, I'm sure that's all that happened." Parvati said, sounding unconvinced.

"What do you mean?" the two girls had Faith thoroughly confused.

"Well I think we all know you like some of the boys more than others." Lavender grinned, wiggling her eyebrows.

"Yeah, usually whichever one hasn't beaten me up or thrown me in a ditch recently." Faith replied, oblivious to what Lavender was hinting at.

"Well, yeah" Lavender conceded "But not what I meant."

"What? What _did_ you mean Lavender?" Faith asked, befuddled "And why are your eyebrows doing a jig?"

"Oh nothing." Lavender feigned innocence.

"Just we don't think you like all the boys in quite the same way do you?" Parvati teased.

"They're all my friends." Faith pointed out, feeling particularly slow this morning.

"Yes, but that's not what you want is it?" Lavender challenged "I mean we've seen the way you are with Neville"

"…the way you look at him" Parvati added.

"…how close you two are" Lavender continued.

"…how it's always him you run to when Seamus is trying to murder you"

"You so fancy him!" Lavender exclaimed excitedly.

"No I don't!" Faith protested "You're being ridiculous, and don't you two start the finishing each others sentences thing, I get enough of that from the twins."

"Are we being ridiculous though?" Parvati asked, smiling knowingly.

"Yes!" Faith assured them.

"Whatever you say Tig." Lavender gave her a smug smile, showing she clearly did not believe a word of it, then she and Parvati wandered out of the dorm. Lavender stuck her head round the door grinning still and wiggled her eyebrows before closing it.

Faith continued to stare at the door after it closed behind them. What had just happened? Lavender and Parvati were mad, she has suspected as much for a while now, but this was definite concrete proof. She did not fancy Neville. Sure she loved spending time with him, trusted him completely and was finding him more attractive by the day, but she did _not_ fancy him.

Faith groaned in frustration and flopped backwards onto her bed. Who was she kidding? She had been trying to deny it, convince herself it would pass, but she had known for weeks now. Something had changed between her and Neville since the summer. Yes she fancied Neville and why should she not? He was kind, sweet, funny and a lot smarter than most people gave him credit for. He was also her best friend though, she was not about to risk that for anything, so it was not like she could do anything about it.

Could Lavender and Parvati really tell though? Was she making it that obvious? The boys hadn't commented, which they surely would have done if they had noticed. Then again they often were not the most observant of people. So, were Lavender and Parvati being serious, Faith pondered, or were they just winding her up. After all she had spent the night in the boys' dorm and come back wearing Neville's cardigan. She smiled as she remembered this. She was definitely going to have to hide the cardigan and hang onto it as long as she could without Neville complaining. She might not be able to have Neville, but she could certainly try to keep that. It's not like she hadn't stolen items of the boys' clothing before, although that more often than not, was just to annoy them.

Faith lay in the unusually quiet dormitory for a while longer, contemplating her conversation with Lavender and Parvati. Then, realising that the boys would be waiting for her to go down to breakfast (or more to the point, wouldn't wait very long) she swiftly shook herself out of her reverie and started hurriedly getting ready.

Lavender and Parvati were sure to bring the topic up again soon and it would no doubt be a long time before she heard the end of it. Much like Hermione and her Elf Empowerment Club she thought. All in all it was starting to look like Faith should consider looking for somewhere new and more peaceful to sleep.


End file.
